


bring me home.

by skywcys



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Love/Hate, M/M, Mentions of Death, Mermaids, Vampire!Doyoung, Vampire!Jaemin, Vampire!Jisung, Vampire!Renjun, Vampires, Werewolves, Witch!Donghyuck, all the familiars are cats btw, dude theres death so if that could possibly trigger you dont read it!, etc - Freeform, familiar!hendery, familiar!jeno, familiar!taeyong, familiar!ten, familiar!yuta, ghost!yukhei, i think thats everyone geez, murder? arson?, relationship lol, the coven just hoards shapeshifting cats, vampire!Mark, vampire!taeil, werewolf!Johnny, werewolf!jaehyun, werewolf!jungwoo, werewolf!xiaojun, witch!chenle, witch!kun, witch!sicheng, witch!yangyang, yuta basically finds yukhei and just adopts him right off the street tbh, yuwin have a
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-13
Updated: 2019-07-18
Packaged: 2020-01-12 02:47:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 37,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18437447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skywcys/pseuds/skywcys
Summary: Instead of trying to receive praise from his witch, Yuta seeks it from everyone else. His other covenmates, the vampires, the seafolk... the dead boy he just found in an abandoned house and decided to take home with him...or alternatively,Yuta never feels appreciated, so he appreciates and loves everyone else.





	1. oh boy, dead boy.

**Author's Note:**

> this is the supernatural yuwin / nct au that no one asked for kawdshawdhwlaj

The cats' eyes seem to glow in the dark as it stares down at the bustling street below him. His tailing swishes along to the sound of rustling leaves and groaning branches. Blue and red lights dance over the houses and bounce off of the trunks of trees and reflected out of fresh puddles of water on the road.

All the cat could hear were the yells of firemen, the calls of police officers, the sounds of wheels squeaking and squealing as medics moved a body covered head to toe in a plastic sheet into an ambulance.

The cat sits and he waits; a few hours going by before the authorities had scattered off, the only evidence of them ever being there was the bright police tape surrounding the house that had been at the middle of all the chaos.

Jumping out of the tree and landing softly, the cat pads closer. His eyes are wide and unblinking with curiosity, eyes roaming the burnt and blackened frame of the roam in front of him.

A sound surprises the black cat, it's ears twitching to catch the sound again.

It comes again. A whimper. Some murmuring. _Crying_.

There's a meow, and the black cat's green eyes meet gold, belonging to a grey- almost shining silver in the night -cat. It watches him, sitting atop the curb.

The black cat meows back.

The grey cat bows its head slightly in acknowledgment and the black cat continues onward. Bounding up the driveway and hopping onto a windowsill, the cat stretches itself to fit through a broken part of the windowpane.

Once free, the cat's shape shifts, it's body seeming to explode into a billow of thick dark smoke. In what seems like a second, a man stands in its place. Eyes flicker from a green to a brown as the man stands at his full height, twisting and stretching his body.

The man hisses once he feels cold air brush against the cut on his rib cage, seemingly snagged by a sharp stray shard of glass on the window.

" _Who's there?_ " a distant voice calls, sounding afraid, " _Hyung? Is that you?_ "

The man can't hear anything other than the sniffles of the other man in the house. No footsteps. No breathing. Nothing.

He stays silent as he exits what would have been the dining room, if it hadn't been burnt to charcoal, and makes his way through the house. His ears can't seem to focus and pinpoint where the other person in the house is, and it makes him cautious as he moves around.

"Who are you?"

The man spins around, startled but not scared, eyes meeting the other presence in the house. A tall boy stands before him, eyes wide and terrified, arms around himself.

"Hello," the man smirks slightly, crossing his arms across his chest, "My name is Yuta. How long have you been dead?"

After a few minutes of confused spluttering, Yuta found himself in the charred lounge room, waltzing his way around the room, touching all kinds of burnt furniture. His companion had sat himself down on the blackened floor. The dead boy was dressed in matching black and white panda pyjamas and a pair of fluffy pink socks; what he had been wearing when he had died.

"I don't know what happened," the boy's bottom lip quivers, his long legs pulled up against his chest as he rocks himself back and forth, "When I woke up everyone was gone."

Yuta felt bad for the kid. He’d most likely passed while he was sleeping, he wouldn’t have even had a chance to try and escape the burning building before his life was taken from him.

Yuta drags a nail along the burnt wall, "A fire," he supplies him, "There was a fire."

The boy watches him move around the room, lips pressed together grimly. If he had been alive, Yuta was sure there'd be tears pooling in his eyes.

"You died," Yuta tells him, his mind recalling watching the medics lifted a single body into an ambulance.

The boy on the floor chokes out a sob, a hand clamping around his mouth. The cat spares him a glance before his attention returns to the charred walls, noticing that further down the hall seems darker and more burnt than the rest.

"I was the only one to die right?"

Yuta turns to him curiously, "Yes," he purses his lips, "You didn't live alone?"

"I lived here with my uh- my family," the boy says, "Five other people."

"I've been here for hours, and you were the only body," he assures the boy, watching his body relax.

Yuta hums, turning on his heel and wandering down the hallway, peering into rooms as he goes, eyeing any furniture that hadn't been completely burnt to ash. The boy on the floor scrambles up to follow him. he ignores any of the questions being fired his way, his eyes catch one something glinting in the doorway of a room at the very end.

A ring.

He bends down to pick it up, thumbing it between his fingers, looking at the simple silver band. He looks at the boy who stands over him then back to the band, then back to the boy.

"Is this yours?"

The boy nods, eyes skittish and watching him nervously.

"Was it special to you?"

The boy nods again.

Yuta slips the ring on his finger as he stands back up, "What was your name again?"

When the boy doesn't reply, he turns his head and cocks an eyebrow. The ghost swallows, eyeing the ring Yuta's slipped onto his finger.

He hesitates to respond, licking his lips, "Yukhei. My name's Yukhei."

Yuta grins at him, moving past him to walk back to the front of the house, "Well, Yukhei, it's time we leave."

There's a scratching at the door that Yuta only picks up when he wraps his hand around the doorknob. Yukhei looks worriedly at Yuta when he lefts out a massive sigh. Swinging the door open, Yuta comes face to face with a pain in his ass.

The golden-eyed cat from across the road.

It stares grumpily up at him, letting out a loud and annoyed meow.

"I was only gone for thirty minutes," Yuta frowns, eyes rolling as he picks the cat up and bundles it in his arms.

The cat hisses but makes no attempt to escape from his hold.

"Um," Yukhei looks back and forth from the cat to Yuta, "I can't leave. I tried before. I think I'm tied to the house or something."

Yuta hums, eyes on the silver ring on his hand, "You see this?" he looks up at Yukhei, who nods innocently, "You're tied to this. Wherever this ring goes, you go too."

The confused ghost boy's jaw drops, " _Oh,_ " he swallows down his surprise, "Where are we going now then?"

"Home," Yuta replies, giving the cat in his arms a scratch behind the ears.

Yukhei doesn't have time to protest before Yuta turns on his heel and saunters his way down the driveway. Only after a moment of hesitation does Yukhei follow. Once they've made their way past the police tape, Yukhei gives his home one last sad lingering look before turning his back on it, jogging after the strange man with a cat in his arms.

 

///

 

Yukhei's surprised when their final destination appears to be a beach. The waves are roaring in the dark and the wind is whipping around their ears. They walk through sand for what feels like an hour, the cold biting at Yuta's scantily clad skin.

The golden-eyed cat jumps out of his arms as soon as they set foot in front of a sand-covered hut. It appears quite small, the wood looked old and the paint looked dulled and chipped.

Yuta almost laughed at the reluctant look on Yukhei's face.

Impatiently, the grey kitty clawed and scratched at the door, the little bell on its collar jingling. Sighing, Yuta pulled a key out of his back pocket; rusted and old to match the exterior.

"Be a little bit patient, Tennie," Yuta grumbled, rolling his eyes when the cat glares at him in response.

Yukhei is staring at his feet when Yuta turns to him, and Yuta chuckles. Startled, the tall boy looks up at the strange man, nervously gnawing on his lower lip.

"Stay here," Yuta instructs, "Just for a moment."

He looks like he wants to object, but to Yuta's surprise, he doesn't. He gives him a small nod and Yuta grins at him.

Shoving and twisting the rusted key into the lock, Yuta pulls the door open. Warm light floods through the doorway and Yukhei gapes in confusion at the brief look at the interior.

The grey cat pads inside, Yuta following behind him, leaving the ghost boy to marvel at the strange home and the moonlit ocean.

" _ Where have you been? _ " is the first thing said to him when Yuta enters.

Shaking the sand from his shoes, Yuta laughs, "Out."

The witch hasn't even looked up from where he's sat at his desk, mulling over whatever potion recipe he's studying. Numerous pencils and ingredients are scattered all around him.

The grey cat has perched itself on the ugly forest green coloured couch, watching their interaction gleefully.

"It's 4am," the annoyed witch's eyes flicked up from his work to glare at Yuta briefly.

"I'm aware," Yuta retorts, "Thanks."

The cat on the couch shakes itself out before it's body erupts into black smoke, a short man sitting in its place. The only thing linking him to the cat was the black collar situated around his neck, a small silver bell dangling and shining in the candlelight.

Yuta tried not to scowl in envy at the mark of ownership.

"Where's Taeyong?" Ten, the cat, asks, tilting his head to the side, his bell jingling as he moves.

The witch looks up at Ten, a frown still on his face, "I don't know," his tone sounds less hostile when he talks to the other boy, "You should ask Kun."

Ten's off his ass in a second flat, skipping loudly down the hall and further into the house to find the Head Witch. It's only then when the witch in front of him turns to look at him properly.

"Where have you been-" his eyes dart from Yuta's face to the ring on his finger, " _ What _ is that?"

Yuta opens his mouth to reply but closes it the moment he sets eyes on Ten tucked under the Head Witch's arm, coming back up the hallway.

"Yuta," Kun gives Yuta a soft smile which he reciprocates, "How was everything?"

Yuta's smile falls into a flat line, "Not good. A fire. One casualty."

"That ring," Sicheng's eyes flit from Yuta's face to the mentioned ring that sat on his finger, "It belongs to the casualty, doesn't it?"

Yuta says nothing, but he does throw a look down at the witch sitting before him.

"Got a name?" Kun asks curiously.

"Yukhei."

Kun hums in acknowledgment, plopping himself down on to the couch, "That isn't who the vampires were looking for. Though, I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

Ten shamelessly crawls into Kun's lap, the bell around his neck jingling as he buries his face in the crook of the Head Witch's neck. Kun's hands come up to rub at his familiar's back. Ten is smiling, mumbling incoherent words of contentment as he snuggles closer.

Yuta's tummy curls in an undeniable feeling of envy.

"Since when were we doing jobs for the vampires?" Sicheng's eyes haven't moved from Yuta, an unhappy scowl still ever so present on his face.

Yuta peels his eyes away from the witch and his familiar, "It's a favour for a friend."

"Seriously?" Sicheng sneers, ignoring the scold Kun sends his way.

"Taeil asked for my help."

Sicheng's lips twist, but he doesn't say anything else. He simply turns back to his work, his knuckles white around the pencil in his grasp.

Holding back his sigh, Yuta wanders back towards the front door, opening it wide. Yukhei's blinking back at him, startled.

With a tilt of his head, Yuta gestures for the ghost boy to come inside.

Ten perks up, pulling away from Kun's chest to wave at the tall boy, his eyes flashing to his cat ones, bright and gold. Yukhei stumbles inside, looking absolutely mortified at the weird irises Ten was displaying.

"What the hell," he gushes out, glancing from Ten to Yuta than to the other two people present in the room.

"Hi," Ten chirps, "I'm Ten."

"Uh," Yukhei swallows roughly, wandering closer, "I'm Yukhei."

The ghost boy's eyes sweep over the two witches, waiting for some kind of response from them. Sicheng's ignoring whatever is happening behind him, muttering things under his breath, whereas Kun is watching Ten with a soft curiosity.

"You brought the casualty home?" Kun questions, eyes moving off of Ten and staring right past Yukhei to look at Yuta.

Yuta nods awkwardly, "Yeah."

His eyes flicker to Sicheng who's stopped moving and muttering, clearly focusing on the conversation going on behind him.

"He's just a kid," Yuta moves his eyes away to meet the Head Witch's stare, "I," Yuta swallows, searching for the words to say.

"You want to help him," Kun supplies for him.

Yuta nods, "I do."

"We'll talk to the vampires tomorrow- or later today," Kun says, realizing the time, "And we'll go from there."

"Vampires?" the boy in question splutters, making Ten erupt in giggles and Yuta small, "Oh boy."

"You don't seem too surprised?" Ten tilts his head again, the sound of the bell around his neck echoing in Yuta's ears unpleasantly.

Yukhei chews on the inside of his cheek and shrugs.

Ten glances from the boy to Yuta, both of them communicating through their eyes. He's hiding something. Holding something back. They'll find out what it is soon enough though, nothing can get past them for long.

A sleepy, silver-haired boy wanders up through the hallway, scratching the area around his neck that is wrapped in a white collar. He's large sparkling eyes land on Ten and Kun almost immediately, not giving Yuta or the dead boy in their living room a spare glance.

"Come back to bed, Kun," he whines, lips pouting, "Please, Ten."

Ten's on his feet and wrapping his arms around the slim boys waste as soon as the beg leaves his lips, both bells on their collars jingling when their bodies collide with one another.

Kun sighs, but the fond smile on his face makes his infatuation with the two kittens obvious.

"Goodnight, Yuta," he smiles at him gratefully, grabbing hold of both of the cat boys' wrists, "Goodnight, Sicheng," he throws over his shoulder at the grumpy witch, "Come on Taeyong, I'm sorry, sweetheart."

Yukhei's quiet throughout the whole ordeal. His eyebrows are furrowed, watching the three men wander back down the hall.

"I'm going to bed too," Sicheng says after a few moments of silence, slamming his pencil onto the desk.

He slides his chair backwards and meets Yuta's eyes expectantly.

"Okay," Yuta says dumbly.

Sicheng's scowl returns, "Okay?"

"Uh-"

"You're not coming?"

Oh. That's what Sicheng's referring to.

Spend the night curled up on the end of his grumpy witch's bed? Or spend the night staying up and keeping the tall confused ghost boy company?

Yuta takes one glance at a confused Yukhei, and that's all it takes for him to make his decision, "No."

If it's possible, Sicheng's scowl gets even deeper, but he doesn't object. He turns on his heel and walks away. Leaving Yuta standing in the middle of the lounge room next to the dead boy he adopted out of a burnt house.

 

///

 

Yuta finds himself curled up on the couch, swallowed by three different blankets and his head resting against an ugly bright pink pillow. He's watching the flames atop the candles dance in the air, his eyelids heavy but his brain refusing to fall asleep.

Ghost boy's on the other side of the couch, his long limbs pulled up against his chest, his eyes taking in the strange home he's inside of.

Once Sicheng had fallen to sleep, Yuta had blown the majority of the candles out. The only candles left were the ones sitting on the coffee table in front of them. The interior of the home was mainly left in shadow now.

"So," Yukhei starts, eyes lingering on some strange plants hanging from the wall behind them, "This place is a lot larger on the inside than it is on the outside."

"Magic," Yuta jokes pathetically.

Yukhei turns to him, "You guys are witches right?"

Yuta quirks an eyebrow, meeting his eyes, "Why do you know so much about the supernatural?"

That shuts Yukhei right up.

"Kun and Sicheng are," Yuta replies, "I'm a familiar."

"A familiar?"

"A witch's companion. Most commonly cats. Sometimes birds, or rats. Even hamsters occasionally," he explains easily, his eyes flashing a vivid green that makes Yukhei's jaw fall to the floor.

"Cats can see spirits, right? That's why you can see me and not the witches?"

Yuta raises both eyebrows this time, "How-"

Yukhei shrugs and Yuta frowns at how unwilling Yukhei is, to be honest with him.

"The cat from before-"

Yuta interrupts, "That was Ten."

"Oh wow."

Oh wow, indeed.

"The guy with white hair too?" Yukhei asks, eyes curious and almost excited.

Yuta nods, "Yeah. They're our Head Witch's familiars."

And the Head Witch's lovers, Yuta recalls somewhat bitterly.

A memory of the three of them curled up in the corner of Kun's room together whirl through Yuta's head. Sweet words and soft kisses. Gentle praises and loving touches. Kun placing enchanted collars around their necks, complimenting them both on how beautiful they were. The collars were enchanted to appear when in human form  _ and  _ in cat form. They were also symbols for how much Kun appreciated and loved them.

Yuta's stomach rears with something ugly at the memory.

He remembers leaving his place in the doorway, where he had been watching the interaction, jealous tears in his eyes

"Are you-" Yukhei pauses, nibbling on his lips nervously, "Sicheng's familiar?"

Huffing, Yuta snaps his head back towards the dancing flames, his facial expression harsh. After a moment, he nods.

"He doesn't seem to like anyone very much."

_ He doesn't like  _ me  _ very much _ , Yuta wants to say, but he keeps his mouth clamped shut.

He shrugs as a response instead.

Yukhei doesn't seem to understand that Yuta doesn't want the conversation to go any farther, and begins asking questions again.

"How come the others have collars and you don't?"

"Sicheng-" Yuta swallows the lump in my throat before starting over, "He and I don't have a relationship like that."

"Oh."

Yuta picks up the last two remaining lit candles from the table and blows them out in a single puff before putting them back in their place. He pulls the three blankets up to his chin and snuggles himself into the rough couch, closing his eyes tight.

Yukhei gapes in the darkness, "Hey! I have so many more question-"

" _ Later _ . Goodnight, Yukhei."

"Goodnight, Yuta," he replies, "Thank you."

Yuta hums in response, shifting his body to get more comfortable.

 

///

 

The morning after, Yukhei's still in his same spot on the couch. He watches the witches house come to life.

There are more people in the house than one would expect. Three other witches and two other familiars.

Witches Donghyuck, Yangyang and Chenle are busily running around checking and watering plants, occasionally picking petals off of flowers and pulling leaves off of branches. Whereas the familiars, including Yuta, have all crowded up behind Kun who's in front of the stove, seemingly making breakfast.

Yuta's at the pack of the pack, barely even attempting to snag any food from in front of Kun's nose, unlike the other various familiars before him. Rather than the food, he watches the other familiars and their belongings.

Ten and Taeyong with their complimenting collars from Kun. Hendery and his beaded bracelet Yangyang made for him. Jeno and his beanie that Chenle got custom made for him.

It was some tradition, between a witch and a familiar; the witch gives a gift to the familiar as a way to show their trust and appreciation.

And what did Yuta have from his witch? A constant headache, or correction-  _ heartache _ , but he'd never admit to that.

Yuta peers down at the shiny silver ring that adorned his middle finger, twisting it around his knuckle with a small frown on his face.

"I'm leaving," Yuta announces all of a sudden, startling the busily buzzing coven, "To see the vampires."

Donghyuck perks up, "I'll come!"

"No, you won't," Kun frowns at the young witch, "You have to clean up the mess you made last night."

"It was  _ one _ small fire!" Donghyuck complains, pouting and scrunching up his nose, " _ Please _ , Kun? I wanna see Renjun."

"No," Kun finalizes before slapping Hendery's hand away from the pot on the stove.

Yuta maneuvers his way out of the kitchen, slapping a hand down on his Donghyuck shoulder, "Actually, I have something I need you to do for me."

And he did.

Yuta had been thinking about it all night whilst he had been pretending to be sleeping. He wanted to go to the vampire nest, find out what they had wanted with Yukhei’s family and  _ then _ if Yukhei wasn’t a part of a serial killing cult, he was going to help him find his family.

He was going to track them down and return Yukhei’s ring to them, so he could rest in peace around the people he loved.

Sadly, as much as Yuta might have liked to, he couldn’t keep the kid. He also couldn’t have left him in that abandoned charred building he had once called home. Yukhei was just a kid, and he deserved to be back with the people he loved.

So that’s what Yukhei was going to do.

Yuta gestures for Yukhei to get up and follow him, both Donghyuck and Yukhei wandering behind as he waltzes down the hallway towards their library.

"You," he spins and points at Donghyuck, "Are you going to find me a spell of some kind to make it that Yukhei can be seen by everyone and not just the familiars."

Donghyuck blinks, " _ Seriously? _ Why don't you just ask Sicheng to do that?"

Yuta mulls over an excuse in his head, settling with, "Uh, because I don't want to."

Donghyuck stares at him blankly.

Making a face, Yuta shrugs, slipping the ring off of his finger and plopping it into the palm of Donghyuck's hand.

"You," he turns to Yukhei, who's doing the thing where he shuffles his feet nervously, "Are staying here. God knows what the vampires want with you and your family."

Donghyuck's eyes shine a bright purple, scanning over Yukhei's tall body beside him, a curious purse to his lips.

"Okay," Yukhei mumbles, " _ Okay. _ "

Donghyuck clicks his tongue, "Fine, I'll help. But I still don't get why you don't ask Sicheng."

"You're the clairvoyant," Yuta flicks the younger's forehead, "You're the only witch that can see him at the moment."

"Plus," Yuta's neck snaps up, meeting Sicheng's stare from where he stands in the doorway, "I'm going with him."

Yuta’s mouth dries out, his tongue laying thick in his mouth. Despite the fact that he had wanted to sneak away before Sicheng had woken up, he can’t bring himself to disagree and tell Sicheng ‘no fucking way’.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/henderybff) and [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/ncteabag)


	2. you mean so much to me.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But most of all, he remembers the look on Sicheng's face. When he had laid eyes on Yuta, his eyes had lit up, like he was happy to see him. He had a brown paper bag clutched in his hands, a little 'Yuta ♡' scrawled on it —
> 
> — "I thou- Kun thought you might be hungry when we found you."

Back in the kitchen, the familiars are all curled up in the living room bowls of food in their laps.

Ten and Taeyong are on either side of their respective witch, pressing their bodies as close to him as possible as if Kun was a lifeline. Hendery's laying across Yangyang's lap, the reflection of the morning cartoons in his eyes. Chenle's sat atop Jeno's lap, spoon feeding himself and his familiar, as Jeno holds up a phone so they can both watch the cat video playing.

Yuta tries not to watch the scene for too long, in fear of the ugly green monster rearing its head.

He saunters into the kitchen, ready to just grab an apple and go but his eyes catch at the brown paper bag sitting on top of the counter. Frowning, Yuta picks it up, examining it in his hands. A small tiny ' _ Yuta ♡ _ ' is scrawled onto the back of the bag. Curiously, he folds the bag open and peers inside. It's a sandwich and one of Kun's signature cupcakes. Chocolate, his favourite.

Kun must have made it for him.

A small smile lights up Yuta’s face, his eyes shining fondly at the kind gesture.

"Are we leaving or what?"

Yuta spins around, his little smile falling, folding the bag back up and holding it tight in his left fist. Sicheng eyes the way his familiar clutches the bag, his lips pressed tightly together.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Yuta speaks, "Uh, yeah. Ten?" he calls.

" _ Yeah? _ " Ten shouts back, already bounding on into the kitchen, the collar on his neck ringing loudly.

"Don't yell!" Kun scolds from the lounge room.

Yuta licks his lips, "You coming?"

Ten nods enthusiastically, "Yeah. Are you coming too Sicheng?"

"No-"

"-Yes."

Yuta and Sicheng share an unhappy look before they both turn their attention back to Ten.

"I'm coming," Sicheng finalizes, giving Yuta once last pointed glance.

Ten opens his mouth to say something, but his words seem to die in his throat when Sicheng turns on his heel and walks off. He looks at Yuta in confusion that Yuta takes for as pity.

Yuta just presses his lips together and shrugs, hugging the paper bag filled with his breakfast against his chest. Quietly, Ten and Yuta leave the house side by side, meeting Sicheng outside.

The wind on the beachfront is especially rough today. It pushes their hair off of their foreheads and the cold moves through their clothes. Yuta shudders the minute he steps onto the sand, tightening his arms against his chest.

Without a moment of hesitation, Ten's evaporated into dark smoke, his kitty persona sitting in his place. The fur of his cat form keeping him warm. Yuta's tempted to follow his lead.

"Give it to me," Sicheng instructs, holding a hand out towards Yuta as the other adjusts the bright red scarf around his neck, "I'll hold onto it for you," he says, referring to the paper bag in Yuta's arm.

Ten's paws pad away in the sand, he meows impatiently at the both of them. Yuta's reluctant to hand it over, but does so wordlessly, worried that the witch will take away the little sign of affection he's been gifted and not give it back.

He meets Sicheng's eyes briefly before his eyes flash green and his body is enveloped in the same black smog. The little black cat padded through the sand, leaping off his back legs to jump on top of the grey one. Ten whacks him with his paw and Yuta meows in response, neither of the familiars noticing Sicheng watching them, his eyes soft and the tips of his lips tilted upwards in a small smile.

 

///

 

It takes them about twenty minutes to walk from the abandoned beachfront to the old car park where they keep their car, glamoured and hidden.

Sicheng opens the back car door first, letting the both of the cat's jump in. The two of them immediately claim their seats, Ten behind the driver's seat and Yuta behind the passengers so he can get a perfect view of Sicheng.

Not that Yuta necessarily wanted to watch Sicheng as he drove. Not at all.

Slamming the driver's door shut, Sicheng settles himself in the driver's seat. He breathes in deeply before craning his neck to look at Ten at then at Yuta. The black cat holds eye contact with the witch as he reaches back and tucks the paper bag close to Yuta's side.

The kitty tilts his head slightly, his tail curling around the perimeter of the bag, his fur lightly brushing Sicheng's hand before it retreats. Yuta watches Sicheng's throat bob up and down as he swallows. Then watches the way Sicheng fumbles with the keys left in the ignition. Yuta meows loudly as the engine whirs to life with a low rumble.

Sicheng sighs, running a spare hand through his hair as he navigates his way out of the old car park, teeth biting down hard on his lower lip.

The grey cat is quiet throughout the whole ordeal, golden eyes watching the strange interaction between the witch and the familiar. Yuta catches his eye and nudges his head against Ten, giving him a playful lick on the forehead, both of the cats erupting with purrs.

Neither of them aware of the way Sicheng gazes at them through the rear-view mirror.

 

///

 

The drive to the vampire's nest wasn't long, but it wasn't short either. Living outside of town at a dark cold beach was quite isolating, it tended to take them a while to get anywhere. Not many humans wandered towards the witches territory seeing as the water got quite rough and there were dangerous rocks. Either the humans were smart or the wards placed around their territory did they come well.

Seafolk, on the other hand, tended to favour their side of the beach for the exact opposite reasons. No humans to stare and point in awe. No humans trying to capture them with finishing nets. Like dolphins and whales, seafolk tend to be primarily mammals and need to come up to breathe air quite often. After days of swimming in the ocean, the witch's beach is a nice little place for them to come and relax and sleep.

Werewolves tend to huddle together in certain neighbourhoods. Sometimes they grouped together in apartment buildings, different families scattered in different apartments. Werewolves were pack animals, after all, they don't tend to survive very long if they're alone. Especially when it came to full moons and such. Wolves need to be able to watch each other's back or else it could end badly for not only them but any other creature they come in contact with.

Witches were quite lonesome, but some did group together to form covens like Yuta's did. Witches tended to be paranoid though and isolate themselves away. They don't offer their services to just  _ anyone _ in fear of being outed or even killed.

Vampires on the other hand? You could find vampires anywhere.

From universities to bars to a pottery class, you could probably run into a vampire and you'd never even have realized. There were ways to avoid skin irritation from the sun and ways to feed without hurting anybody, so they tend to be the easier supernatural to be. Unless someone discovered their pints of blood- that'd be a bit difficult to explain.

The vampire nest they were headed to now, is an old abandoned asylum that had been closed off of years ago. Yuta had stumbled upon a group of vampires who had been camping out there one night a year or so back.

The place had been dirty and the mattresses the kids were sleeping on had springs poking out of them. The water had been off, no toilets or showers worked. Blood was low, the leader of the nest only having enough money to pay for a small amount that wouldn't fill all six of them up.

It was dangerous, approaching six obviously hungry vampires, but Yuta had been injured at the time and he was willing to risk being eaten alive if there was even a  _ chance _ someone could help him.

Yuta, in cat form, had been running away from a very angry stray dog and had gotten himself caught on a piece of a fence while jumping over it to escape. Bleeding through an open wound on his leg, made him slow and made him exhausted.

One of the young vampires had found him, curled up and meowing at the top of his lungs. His lips were chapped and bitten, eyes red at the smell of blood. Yuta had thought he was dead then and there.

Then, after a moment of tense silence the kid had yelled, ' _ Taeil! _ ' and backed away, as if he was restraining himself.

Taeil wasn't the tallest man, but he was calm and soft and he had a pretty smile. He'd taken one look at Yuta and cooed, scooping him up in his arms and carrying him further into the asylum.

Doyoung, the leader of the nest, had pulled out a tiny emergency first aid kit and stitched him up to the best of his ability. And Yuta had remained there, for two days, curled up by the fire they had going. In and out of every vampire's lap, preening at the little head scratches and forehead kisses he'd received from them.

He remembers in detail when Sicheng and Kun had shown up, with Taeyong and Ten shifted into their kitten forms. Apparently, they had waited 24 hours before scrying for his location.

He remembers being pounced on by a bright write cat- Taeyong -and then nuzzled by Ten. The three familiars meowing and purring and cuddling.

He remembers the relieved smile on Kun's face and the way he shook the vampires' hands, introducing himself and the rest of the coven that had accompanied him. Kun had thanked them for looking after him and offered them endless favours in return.

But most of all, he remembers the look on Sicheng's face. When he had laid eyes on Yuta, his eyes had lit up, like he was happy to see him. He had a brown paper bag clutched in his hands, a little ' _ Yuta ♡ _ ' scrawled on it. Then Sicheng had noticed the lap Yuta was cuddled in.

Taeil's lap.

His expression had fallen away and it had resumed it's usual angry-pouty-baby expression. He had dropped the paper bag in front of Yuta, both Taeyong and Ten flinching away from him at the sudden sound of it slapping the floor.

"Eat up," Sicheng had scowled, "I thou- Kun thought you might be hungry when we found you."

It had come quite a shock to the six vampires when Yuta had crawled off of Taeil's lap and exploded into black smoke. The wound translated to a massive gash on the innards of Yuta's thigh, but luckily with familiar magic that stitches shifted with him.

Despite the circumstances surrounding how Yuta had met the vampires, it was one of his favourite memories.

 

///

 

Not much had changed with the vampires' lair since then. It was still located in the asylum, but after a very generous offer from the Head Witch of their coven, they had redecorated since then.

Just like the little beach hut, the asylum was glamoured. It looked worn down and completely and utterly abandoned. But the inside was beautiful and warm and homey. They had working plumbing and working electricity. Kun had called in a favour from a friend back in his old coven in China and had hooked up Taeil and Doyoung with proper everyday jobs. No vampires were going underfed any longer.

The perimeter of the asylum was secure and warded to keep away any intruders. It was a safe and happy place for the few vampires that called it home.

"I don't understand why we still owe them any favours," Sicheng had grumbled as soon as he locked up the car, shoving the keys roughly in his pocket.

Both Yuta and Ten were stretching out their human limbs after changing back. Yuta simply frowned at him, ignoring him to peel away a piece of broken wired fence and crawl through.

"You don't owe them any favours," his witch tells him, a harsh line between his brows.

Yuta sighed, pulling the fence back for the both of them, "They saved my life."

"It was a minor injury."

"I could have bled out. Or it could've gotten infected and I could've lost a limb."

Sicheng stands up at his full height and glares down at him, "You're being over-dramatic."

Yuta takes a step back, swallowing roughly at the lump that has formed in his throat from Sicheng standing so close.

"They're my friends," Yuta's bottom lip juts out in an almost-sorta-pout.

Sicheng's eyes flicker with an emotion Yuta doesn't recognize, and the harsh frown on his lips seems to lift a bit, but his expression hardens just as fast as it seemed to soften.

Ten coughed awkwardly, meeting Yuta's eyes over Sicheng's shoulder. He's gesturing to continue further into the compound and Yuta snaps out of whatever weird world he's entered with Sicheng to follow his lead.

It's Jisung that greats him at the graffiti-covered doors. His bright little eyes are peeking through a gap in the door before he bursts out and wraps his arms around Yuta and  _ squeezes  _ hard.

"Hey kiddo," Yuta laughs, hand coming to rest on the back of Jisung's head, giving his hair a ruffle.

Jisung pulls away to look into his eyes, "Taeil was getting so worried about you. Doyoung had to keep him from going and looking for you."

Yuta ignores the annoying scoff he hears escape from Sicheng's mouth, moving further inside the building with the young fledgling by his side.

"I am all good," Yuta grins at him, throwing an arm around his shoulder, "Sadly can't say the same about the people you guys were looking for."

Doyoung seems to appear out of thin air, hands-on Yuta's shoulders immediately, an unusual scared expression on his face.

He licks his lips nervously, "What do you mean? What happened to them?"

Yuta takes Doyoung's hand and leads him back towards the main area where they keep the fireplace and couches. He smiles at Jaemin, Mark and Renjun who are all curled up by the fire, reading books.

"There was a fire," Ten explains to him, coming to sit on the couch, Yuta and Doyoung following suit, "Seems like it was with the intention of killing everyone in there."

Sicheng stands and watches the way Doyoung latches onto Yuta with cautious, untrusting eyes.

"They're dead? All of them? Are you sure?" Doyoung looks like he might cry.

Not once in the year that Yuta's known Doyoung has he  _ ever _ seen Doyoung even slightly tear up at anything. Yet here he is, holding Yuta's hands with eyes looking ready to overflow. Yuta's throat constricts at the heartbroken look on Doyoung's face, but he swallows it down.

"No," he tells him, interlacing his fingers with Doyoung's shaking ones, "Only one person died."

"Jungwoo?"

Yuta looks up, meeting Taeil's nervous eyes and fidgety stature. He slowly makes his way over to the two familiars and the head vampire, kneeling to take one of Doyoung's and Yuta's hands in his own.

Yuta shakes his head slowly, "No. It was a boy named Yukhei."

The distraught vampire beside him presses his lips together roughly, looking torn between being relieved and being horrified. Taeil's tense shoulders have dropped, his arms hanging limp as he squeezes both of their hands.

Ten throws a warning glance at Sicheng when he notices the witch's sneer towards the vampires holding onto his familiar.

"Oh, poor Yukhei," Doyoung hiccups, a few stray tears escaping his eyes.

"Why would anyone want to hurt the werewolves?"

The familiars and witch freeze momentarily. All three of them exchanging a look before all eyes settle on Renjun, who's standing up beside them now, a book hanging from his arms.

" _ Werewolves? _ " Sicheng asks, an angry edge to his voice.

Taeil opens his mouth to interject, but Sicheng's sharp gaze halts him.

"You sent my familiar into werewolf territory? What made you-"

" _ Sicheng _ ," Yuta snaps, his head turned towards his witch, his eyes flashing green bright, "Stop it."

"I don't care if you owe them a favour or if you owe them your  _ life _ , Yuta," Sicheng replies, glare hard and unrelenting, "You-" he points angrily at Taeil, "You know how dangerous that can be! If werewolves had found him lurking around their territory he could have been  _ killed! _ "

Taeil holds his hands up in front of himself, "Sicheng, I-"

"The werewolves would  _ never _ hurt Yuta! They're good people!" Jaemin's up on his feet now too, his arms crossed against his chest, Jisung holding onto his shoulder in an attempt to get him to sit down and stay out of it.

If this were a cartoon, smoke would be flaring out of Sicheng's nose, " _ Oh? _ And how exactly would you know that?"

"Stop it," Yuta grabs Sicheng's wrist, "Don't you dare talk to him like that."

Sicheng rips himself away as if he's been burnt, but he shuts his mouth and that's enough to satisfy Yuta.

"Jungwoo-" Doyoung swallows roughly, meeting Yuta's eyes cautiously, "The werewolf pack- we're quite close to them all. Taeil and I especially."

Taeil looks at the floor, "Jungwoo is our-" he gestures to himself and Doyoung, "Boyfriend. For the last few days, we haven't been able to get in contact with him or any of the pack. That's why we sent you to investigate."

Before Sicheng can ask, Ten does it for him, in a much calmer tone, "Why didn't you go yourselves?"

"Usually the wolves come here," Renjun explains, taking place in Mark's lap, "The other werewolves in their area don't like us hanging around."

"You think the fire was set on purpose, did you say?" Doyoung asked, obviously worried for his lover.

Ten nods, "Most likely. I have a feeling that there are some hunters in town."

"There was no trace of any of the other wolves except Yukhei though," Yuta frowns, thinking about the spirit of the dead boy that awaited him back home.

"Poor Yukhei," Doyoung says again, "Oh god, he was so young. His sweet boyfriend- oh my god. Poor  _ Xiaojun _ \- The whole pack must be in mourning."

"And on the run, if they've been attacked," Mark contributes, hands rubbing up and down Renjun's sides comfortingly, "It's going to be hard to find them."

"We'll find them," Yuta assures the vampires, to not only Sicheng but Ten's surprise, "We'll find them and we'll find Jungwoo. And will bring Yukhei back home to them too."

Taeil pulls him up from the couch and into a hug, pressing a kiss to his chin. Warmth spreads through Yuta at the affection, wrapping his arms around the man's neck.

"Thank you, Yuta," Taeil cries softly into Yuta's shirt, "It means the world to us.  _ You  _ mean the world to us."

"I promise," he whispers into Taeil's hair, tears gathering in the corners of his eyes, "I'll bring Jungwoo home to you."

And he'd bring Yukhei home to his family too. Even if he had to go to hell and back to do it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some rarepair dreamie ships >:) because i can >:) hope you enjoyed this chapter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! come say hello on cc or on twt uwu
> 
> you can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/henderybff) and [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/ncteabag)


	3. the witch and her beast.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuta pictures Sicheng and himself whenever he reads the story. Except Sicheng's the familiar and Yuta is the witch. And there's no gift ever been given. And neither of them are in love with one another.

After wrapping up the very intense conversation with the head of the vampire's nest, Yuta found himself sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace, an excited Jaemin in front of him holding his left hand.

With carefully precision, the young vampire was applying a very bright layer of purple nail polish to Yuta's nails, his tongue stuck out between his teeth in concentration. Jisung had his head hooked over Jaemin's shoulder, watching in fascination as Jaemin painted away.

Yuta had his special sandwich in his other hand, munching away whilst trying not to move and accidentally ruin Jaemin's work.

Ten had wandered off with Renjun and Mark, the both of them wanting to show them some paintings that had made since the last time he'd seen them. Taeil had ushered Doyoung out of the living room and into his own room with promises of cuddles and a fresh glass of blood.

Sicheng, on the other hand, was sitting on the couch, watching his familiar interact with the fledglings with a look in his eyes that you didn’t see very often.

"Can you paint my nails next, Jaem?" Jisung pouts, tilting his head to look at the side profile of his boyfriend's face.

Jaemin's eyes widen a bit, facing him, "Really? You  _ never _ let me paint them."

"Yuta looks so cool when he has his painted," Jisung's hands come around to sit on Jaemin's hips, "Please?"

"Of course I will," a grin lights up Jaemin's face.

The two of them exchange a sweet kiss that makes Yuta smile affectionately at two of them. Jaemin finishes painting the last few of his nails, smiling in joy as he does so before instructing his boyfriend to pick out a bottle of nail polish that he liked.

Jisung settles for a dark navy blue- almost black -colour before maneuvering himself around so that Jaemin was in front of him. Closing the purple nail polish uptight and then opening the navy polish, Jaemin starts to paint away at his boyfriend's nails.

"Would you mind going and getting me a glass of blood please?" Jaemin asks without looking up, still focused on the task in front of him.

Yuta smiles, patting Jaemin's hair, "Of course."

"Be careful of your nails!" Jaemin calls when Yuta's already out of the room, "They're still drying!"

Giggling, Yuta opens up the mini fridge that the vampires keep stocked full of blood. He lightly fingers through the different bags filled with different blood types until he settles on a random one, not sure which is the fledgling's preference.

"Do you want some help?" Sicheng peeps into the kitchen.

Yuta furrows his brows, "Uh-"

"Here," Sicheng says, taking the bag and cutting it open with a pair of scissors that sat atop the bench, "So your nails don't get ruined."

Yuta almost smiles at him, but he holds back, still irked by the way the witch had acted earlier. He turns away from Sicheng, opening a cabinet and pulling out a long glass and places it on the table. Placing the small brown paper bag that's been tucked safely under his arm on the table, Sicheng starts to pour the blood out into the glass for his familiar.

"In the drawer beside you, there's a set of metal straws. Could you grab one for me?" Yuta asks without looking into his eyes, staring down at his hands.

Humming, Sicheng does what he's asked. Sliding the straw into the glass and swirling around the dark red blood.

"Thank you," Yuta mumbles, carefully picking up the glass and exiting the room.

He resists turning around to see if Sicheng had followed him. Yuta places down the glass beside the two fledgling vampires, crossing leaning over to watch as Jaemin paints away.

With his tongue poking out between his lips, Jaemin sits back, placing the brush back into the bottle. He picks the long glass up, pointing the straw out towards his boyfriend so he can take a sip. Jisung takes a long sip before pulling away from the straw to lock Jaemin's lips in a slow kiss, a smile noticeable on the corners of both of their lips.

"Thank you, Yuta," Jaemin grins at him when he pulls away, ignoring Jisung's whine of protest due to the loss of contact.

Yuta grins back before gesturing to Jisung's drying manicure, "You should add glitter."

Jisung perks up in interest, "Really? You think?"

"I think it'll look pretty," he says.

"Okay," a small excited smile is on the face of the fledgling, "Okay, yeah."

Jaemin looks ecstatic at the idea, already rummaging through his little box of nail polish for one. Yuta leans back, slowly making his way back to the kitchen in hopes of shoving that chocolate cupcake into his face. He adores both of them. Yuta adores all the vampires but he really adores those two.

He can only hope someone would look at the way those two looked at each other.

Turns out, Sicheng is still in the kitchen, seemingly minding his own business as he wanders around and takes in the interior.

"Kun did a good job," Sicheng says out of the blue.

Yuta nods, a furrow in his brow. He doesn't think he's talked to Sicheng so much in one day before.

When Yuta looks up, Sicheng's already watching him, "You really like it here."

"I do," Yuta agrees.

Sicheng looks kind of upset at his easy admission.

"They mean a lot to me," he continues.

"You and Taeil-" Sicheng makes his way back over to the counter, "You're close."

His face scrunches up, "Yeah, we are. But I'm closer with Jaemin and Jisung."

The upset look on Sicheng's face falls away, "Oh."

_ Oh?  _ What was that supposed to mean?

"I thought he meant more to you."

Yuta tilts his head questioningly, but the witch doesn't elaborate.

"We're friends," Yuta feels the need to clarify for a reason he doesn't know, "Taeil and I. We're just friends."

There it is. That look in Sicheng's eye that carries and emotion that Yuta can never identify. But it's there. It's bright and sparkly and  _ warm _ . The rest of Sicheng's expression remains the same. Eyebrows still slightly furrowed. Lips pressed together.

_ He's pretty _ , Yuta thinks dumbly.

"Could you- uh," Yuta looks away from him, "Open the bag for me. So I don't ruin my nails. Please."

Sicheng does so, silently. He brings the cupcake out of the bag and places it on the counter, peeling the wrapper off of it. Then, to Yuta's surprise, Sicheng pulls off a piece and holds it up to his mouth.

Yuta can only blink at him.

The witch opens his mouth, gesturing Yuta to do the same. And Yuta does, pupils shaking in confusion. He swallows around the piece of cake placed into his mouth, flinching away when he feels the faint touch of Sicheng's fingertips along the corners of his lips and chin.

"Your nails are pretty," the boy in front of him says, completely switching the topic.

He chokes a little, forgetting to chew before he swallows the piece of the cake completely. Yuta nods a little to acknowledge the compliment.

"I've never seen you wear it before?"

Yuta shrugs, "Jaemin only ever does it for me. I tend to pick it off when I'm nervous or stressed."

"I think it suits you," his witch admits, holding up another piece of cake for him, "You should do green next time."

Yuta swallows the piece of cupcake, eyebrows furrowing, "Why green?"

"You look beautiful in green," Sicheng tells him, placing the last bit of cake between Yuta's lips.

The familiar feels a chill run up and down his spine when both of them make eye contact. Yuta almost chokes again as he swallows.

"Okay!" Ten's loud voice yells, "Where are you two? I wanna get home in time for lunch!"

Yuta steps back, his head and heart pounding in his chest. He leaves Sicheng standing there to meet Ten in the living room.

"What's that?" he asks as soon as he sets eyes on Ten.

The other familiar is holding a canvas wrapped in a sheet, a little envelope with something scrawled on it in his hand.

"It's a gift for Donghyuck," Ten giggles, throwing a look at the two vampires behind him.

Mark and Renjun both flush in embarrassment, their hands tightly intertwined.

"They worked really hard on it together," Jisung exposes, flapping his hands beside him like a bird in an attempt to get the polish to dry faster.

Yuta coos, "I'm sure he'll love it."

Jaemin rushes over to Yuta first, wrapping his arms around the older man. Mumbling into his chest about how he better visit soon and that he should try not to pick the nail polish off this time. Then comes Jisung, both of them awkwardly trying to hug without smudging their manicure. Then Renjun. Then Mark.

Then Taeil, who pulls him down by his neck to kiss him on his forehead, whispering ' _ thank you's _ ' against his skin.

"I'll be back soon," Yuta promises, smiling down at the vampire.

"Stay safe, love," Taeil calls as Yuta and his two companions wander their way out of the vampire nest.

 

///

 

The coven's house is in utter chaos when the trio arrives. Yangyang, Hendery and Chenle are all head to toe covered in smoke, sitting on the couch looking guilty. Kun's got his head in his hands beside them, looking like he's in the midst of having a mental breakdown. Taeyong's in the kitchen, stirring away at what's most likely for lunch, looking quite honestly unbothered. By some miracle, Jeno's looped his arms around Chenle and has started stripping him of his blackened shirt in an attempt to get him changed.

"What the hell happened here?" Sicheng asks, exasperated.

"I blew something up," Chenle mumbles through the fabric covering his mouth as he pulls the clean shirt over his massive head.

Kun sighs dramatically, "Three times. He blew a potion up three damn times."

“I tried my best,” Chenle whines, trying to cuddle up to Kun, “I’m sorry, Kun.”

Yuta hurries over to the coffee table, where a slightly burnt recipe book lays. It's open to page 84 and one look at the illustrations has him choking on his cowards.

"A-  _ What? _ " Yuta looks up at Chenle through his fringe, "A  _ love potion? _ "

Even Jeno looks confused. Chenle and the other two culprits have the nerve to look guilty.

"A love potion should've been easy for you," Jeno frowns at his witch, combing the soot out of Chenle's hair with his hands.

Sicheng picks the book up off of the table to have a closer look, flipping forward to a page marked with a leaf as a bookmark. Ten and Yuta both look over his shoulders to get a look. A courage potion and a few stray pieces of paper covered in scribbles stares back at them.

"You were trying to combine a courage and love potion?" Sicheng snorts, trailing a fingertip down the first page of notes as he reads.

 

The youngest witch looks a bit petrified to answer.

"We were trying to make a potion that boosts your confidence to be more affectionate with someone you loved," Hendery snitches, whining when Yangyang wacks him in the stomach.

Kun massages his temples in disarray, "Why in the world would you do that?"

"I didn't want Yuta to be sad anymore," Chenle murmurs, playing with the rips in his jeans.

There's an irritating buzz in Yuta's ears when the room lapses into silence. His airways have tightened and his gut is wrenching and he wants to cry and throw up all at once.

Yuta stumbles a bit, his eyes shaking and his head pounding.

_ I don't want Yuta to be sad anymore _ .

"I'm going to go check on Donghyuck," he says, without looking anyone in the eye.

He all but snatches the painting out of Ten's hands, trying not to make it obvious how shaken up he was but easily failing. With the painting clutched tightly to his chest, he flees.

He's grateful that no one follows him.

"Yuta!"

Arms are around his shoulders as soon as he enters the library. Big and strong and  _ unfamiliar _ . Yuta backs up and out of the arms, wiping away the tears that had collected in the corners of his eyes. Yukhei stares down at him, a big grin on his face.

_ Oh my god _ , Yuta realizes,  _ he just touched me _ .

Without a spare thought, Yuta slaps the dead boy in the chest. Firm. Cold, but firm. Yukhei was physically there.

Donghyuck innocent peers his head out from behind a bookshelf, a cocky self-impressed smile on his face.

"How'd you do it?" he asks the witch incredulously.

Donghyuck makes his way towards them both, slamming a thick book down on a cluttered desk as he goes. He turns Yukhei towards him for a moment to pull a necklace over the collar of Yukhei's panda pyjamas.

"A charm," Donghyuck smiles at his handiwork, "I stole some of the things I needed from Kun's special cabinet. Don't snitch, bitch."

Yuta trails his hands down Yukhei's shoulders and arms, stopping when his fingers interlace with the ghost’s. His object- his ring -is secured on his ring finger. The cold metal makes Yuta shiver when he touches it.

"Wow," he breathes, eyes sparkling.

Yukhei's grin gets impossibly brighter, " _ Right?  _ I'm still dead but now people can see me  _ and  _ I can touch things! I read a book about photosynthesis earlier! I even turned the pages myself!"

The dead boy wraps his arms around Yuta's neck and pulls him into his chest again. The familiar can feel the way Yukhei's body shudders as he laughs loudly, and it instantly makes Yuta's bad mood begin to dissipate. In only takes a few moments of hesitation for Yuta to reciprocate the hug and giggle along.

“Thank you, thank you,  _ thank you _ ,” Yukhei heaves out, tucking Yuta’s head under his chin.

After a few minutes of being left out, Donghyuck shoves himself between them to get a piece of the action.

It takes them all about ten minutes to calm down and sit around the big circular table in the middle of the room. Various books are lying on top of each other, pages of Hyuck's written notes among them.

"This is for you," Yuta says, handing over the piece of covered canvas to the witch, "From Mark and Renjun."

Donghyuck's blushing before he even looks at what the two vampires have made for him. The way the red on his face flushes darker makes Yukhei giggle into his large hand. The painting is beautiful and quite obviously Renjun's handy work. It's Donghyuck in the moonlight, the waves of the beach rolling behind him in the darkness. The most eye-catching thing about it is the bright, glowing purple eyes Donghyuck has. His clairvoyant eyes.

On the right side of the canvas, in bright opaque white paint, is a poem. Before Yuta can even attempt to read it, Donghyuck's pulled the canvas close to his chest to hide it from view. The witch is blushing from his cheeks to his ears.

Yuta's kitty senses perk up when he hears Donghyuck mutter under his breath, " _ God I have such a massive crush on those losers. _ "

He tries his hardest to hold back his giggle, barely remaining successful.

 

///

 

Its hours later when any of the others in the house decide to come to find him. Yukhei's got his head in a Pokemon fact book and Donghyuck's fallen asleep on top of a large book about different breeds of the unicorn.

Yuta though is flipping through an old storybook. It's a witch version of Beauty and the Beast. There are elements to the story that is similar to the human fairytale and elements that are completely different.

In the story, it's the young witch who lives in the castle along with her large coven. She's at the age and experience level needed to summon her familiar, and she has. When the familiar shows up- who is a breed of dog in his story -there's only one problem.

The witch and familiar can't seem to get along.

The familiar is closed off, quiet. He doesn't seem to care about his duties as a familiar nor about the witch at all. Despite this, the witch still cares about her familiar and gifts him an earring embedded with a small garnet stone, which is regarded as a stone of devotion. Devotion towards family and friends. A sign of care from his witch.

And yet, the familiar never wears it. He locks it away and acts as if it was never given.

Further along in the story, witch hunters infiltrate the castle and her coven. Familiars die protecting their witches, and witches dying protecting their familiars. During the battle, the witch throws herself in front of a blade to protect her familiar.

The witch survives, and when she comes to, her familiar is with her by her side, the earring pierced through his ear.

And then they fall in love. Yada-fricken-yada.

Yuta pictures Sicheng and himself whenever he reads the story. Except Sicheng's the familiar and Yuta is the witch. And there's no gift ever been given. And neither of them are in love with one another.

At the though, Yuta slams the book shut and pushing it away from himself, swallowing the rough lump that had arose in his thought.

"Yuta?"

He flinches at the sound of Kun's voice. He hadn't realized that Kun was in the room with them.

When he looks up, Kun's leaning against one of the numerous bookshelves looking at him with soft and sad eyes. It looks like pity.

Chenle's standing somewhat behind the Head Witch, looking guiltily down at his feet. Jeno's got his hand tightly clutched in his reassuringly, his lips by Chenle's ear as he murmurs words of assurance.

"Chenle came to apologize," the Head Witch tells him, "But first I wanted to talk to you about the vampires."

Yukhei's got his head out of his book now, listening attentively. Donghyuck, on the other hand, is drooling onto the book under his head, completely undisturbed by the conversation going on around him.

"You agreed to help Doyoung and Taeil find their werewolf boyfriend? And you decided to bring Yukhei's spirit back to his pack?"

Yuta nods, ignoring the shocked ' _ You know I'm a werewolf? _ ' that comes from Yukhei.

"That could be dangerous," Kun almost sounds patronizing when he says it, but there's that soft caring edge to his voice.

Yuta huffs, "If something were to happen to Taeyong or Ten-" Kun's face hardens immediately at the example, "-Wouldn't you want someone to bring them home to you?"

"I would," Chenle chips in quietly, squeezing Jeno's hand.

The stern expression immediately drops from the Head Witch's face and he sighs, "Of course I would. Yuta, you need to understand that if hunters end up being involved, you’re not only putting yourself in danger. You’ll put  _ us _ in danger.”

"You're not going to help me find them, are you?" Yuta concludes, crossing his arms over his chest.

Kun sighs, "I just wish you would have consulted me before making promises," he says, "Tomorrow we're going to have a coven meeting, and we'll take a vote. Alright?"

Yuta can feel the Head Witch's frustration radiating off of him in waves. He doesn't even wait for a response from Yuta before turning away and leaving. Chenle looks like he wants to bail and leave, but he stays put with his hand still holding onto Jeno.

"Chenle-" he starts.

"The potion was for Sicheng," Chenle spits out whilst guilty rubbing the back of his neck, "I thought that maybe if he was more openly affectionate with you, it'd make you happy. I'm sorry, Yuta. I didn't mean to make you sadder."

"I'm not sad," he deflects, holding his arms closer to his chest.

"Sicheng makes you sad."

"He does  _ not _ ," Yuta snaps.

He can feel his defensive attitude fade away when Chenle flinches. His eyes shake with regret.

"Yuta," Yukhei mumbles quietly next to him, "I've been here one night and I've seen how sad he makes you."

Yuta can feel a lump growing in his throat, warning to oncoming tears. He can't look at any of them in the face.

"Sometimes I just wish-  _ No _ ," Yuta stops himself, "You said it yourself, the potion was supposed to boost confidence to be affectionate with someone you _ love _ . Sicheng- he doesn't and that's okay. Chenle, don't worry about it. It's fine. I'm fine. I love you, okay?"

Chenle worries his bottom lip between his teeth, "Yuta..."

Yuta looks up at him and smiles, big and blinding and it would have been considered beautiful if it weren't for the obvious shakiness it carried. He opens his arms and stands for Chenle to come into his arms.

Chenle's grip is tight when he wraps his arms around him, "I love you too," he mumbles into the fabric of Yuta's shirt, "I shouldn't have done it."

"Be more careful next time, yeah?" Yuta says quietly, "Wouldn't want you blowing yourself up and leaving your limbs all over the house."

That gets a giggle out of the young witch. Chenle gives his hand a squeeze before backing up and leaving the library. Jeno stays put for a moment, staring at the older familiar with furrowed eyebrows.

"What?"

"You don't think Sicheng loves you, do you?" is what Jeno asks.

Yuta stumbles over his words for a moment, trying to come up with a coherent answer. An answer that doesn't make him sounds sad or pathetic. He comes up short. He stands there gaping at the boy without anything to say.

Jeno hums, his lips scrunching up before he turns on his heel and walks away.

Yukhei's watching him like a sad confused puppy, and Yuta lets out a wet laugh at his expression. He coughs slightly, swallowing the pathetic sob that tries to crawl out of his throat.

He sits back down at the table, fingertips running along with the title of the fairytale in front of him.

_ The Witch and her Beast _ .

With a frustrated scowl, he opens the book to the last page. The witch and her familiar locked in a kiss staring back at him. In a surge of anger, he attempts to toss the book into the roaring fireplace beside him.

Yukhei's cold hand wrapping on his wrist is what stops him. The worried look on the ghost's face is what tears the pitiful sob from his throat. He draws his arms back, keeping the book close to his chest.

_ Of course, he didn't think Sicheng loved him. Sicheng has never loved him. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i feel like this chapter had so much going on at once im sorry jsawdbuawh i kinda wanna switch POVS to sicheng occasionally but i'm not gonna because i don't want to make it too confusing lol
> 
> what was your favourite part of this chapter? mine was jaemin painting yuta's nails uwu, my inspo for that part was [this tweet!](https://twitter.com/nctzenpai/status/1057605722379173894)
> 
> you can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/ncteabag) and [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/ncteabag)


	4. lingering touches.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sicheng blows air out of his nose in frustration, "If the vote is against helping the vampires, Yuta is just going to go out and find those werewolves by himself. I just don't-"
> 
> "Want to lose him," Ten finishes for him, running his hand through Taeyong's hair.
> 
> Sicheng scowls, "I don't want him to get captured and questioned by hunters."
> 
> "You also don't wanna lose him," Ten reiterates, eyebrows raised knowingly.

It had never been a part of Yuta's plan to hole himself up in the library for the rest of the day, yet it was what he found himself doing. By the time it was dark, Yuta had reorganized all of the books Donghyuck had pulled from the shelves and put them back into their rightful places. Yukhei had found an abundance of erotica and had convinced Yuta to sit back down with him and play a little game with it.

The game went like this; open the erotic novel to a random page and read aloud a random paragraph, first one to laugh loses.

Yukhei was always terribly hiding his face behind his hands in an attempt to not laugh, but he always lost. The game had made Yuta smile again nonetheless, which had been Yukhei's goal all along.

Sometime within those few hours that they were holed up in there, Yuta had managed to slip the unicorn encyclopedia out from underneath Donghyuck's head without waking the young witch. Unfortunately, during their seventeenth round of reading the erotica, Yukhei's laugh was so boisterous and his hands had slapped the table so hard that it had spooked Donghyuck awake. Donghyuck had happily taken himself to bed after eyeing the collection of erotica they had collected.

Eventually, reading about bulbous penises and the valleys between a women's breasts got boring.

So now, all was quiet in the library. Yukhei had resumed reading picture books meant for children of the ages eight and under and Yuta was staring into the dissipating embers among the fireplace.

"Yuta?"

He blinks himself out of his daze to look at Yukhei, "Hm?"

"I know you probably don't want to talk about this but," Yukhei looks at him like a guilty puppy, "Are you really going to help me find my pack?" he asks in a small voice, despite his big stature, "If the coven lets you of course!" the kid rushes the last bit out, looking slightly frazzled.

"Yeah," Yuta nods, resting his chin on his arms as he looks at the boy, "I will. Even if the coven votes against it. I swear I will, Yukhei."

Yukhei doesn't look like he's been put at ease, but he gives Yuta a weak smile despite it.

"I miss them," Yukhei curls up into himself, pulling his long legs to his chest, "I miss Xiaojun."

"Xiaojun... is your boyfriend?"

Yukhei's small smile becomes a bit more genuine, "Yeah. Well- no. Kinda? I don't know."

Yuta watches him curiously as he gazes at the silver ring around his finger. His throat bobs up and down as he fiddles with it as if recalling a memory. When he looks at Yuta again, there are tears welling up in his eyes.

"I love him. I didn't have the courage to tell him before-" he gestures to himself, "-All this," he swallows roughly before continuing, "He gave everyone in the pack a ring like this. I don't know if you noticed but there's an engraving on the inside. A date. When I asked him what the date meant, all he told me was that it was a day that meant a lot to him."

Yukhei pulls the ring from his finger, twirling it around in his grasp for a few seconds before he places it down in front of Yuta. He hesitates before picking it up, almost not wanting to touch it now, knowing that it's so precious to the boy in front of him. One look at Yukhei's expectant eyes has him picking it up to inspect it though, the date engraved catching the light.

19/02/19.

"I don't remember what we did that day," Yukhei admits, a sad longing look in his eyes, "But it was special to him. Which makes it special to me."

"I swear I'll find them, Yukhei," Yuta reiterates his promise, placing the ring into the centre of his palm.

Yukhei catches his hand to squeeze it, "If your coven-"

"I don't care what my coven says," he snaps, "I'm going to find them.  _ We're _ going to find them."

Yukhei's smile brightens, "And then I'm going to tell Xiaojun that I love him."

"And then you're going to tell Xiaojun you love him," Yuta agrees, eyes sparkling.

 

/ //

 

He's not sure what time it is when Sicheng comes to find him. It was way past sunset now. The candles in the library had lit themselves like they do every night, and the fireplace had burnt out completely. Yukhei's still curled up with his long ass limbs and a bunch of picture books, seemingly having a great time looking at all of the different illustrations. The entire library has fallen into silence except for Yukhei occasionally turning a page.

Yuta's got his head resting in his arms. He's sleepy but too stubborn to put himself to bed, especially if that means having to face another member of his coven.

Neither of the library's occupants had noticed Sicheng standing in the doorway until he had coughed suddenly and startled the both of them out of their daze.

"I wanted to know if you were coming to bed," is all Sicheng says when they make eye contact.

Sicheng had obviously just finished getting ready for bed himself. His dark hair was tousled messily over his head, and his sleep shirt wasn't completed buttoned and his grey sweatpants stained with potions he had spilt. Sicheng looked like a tired, pouty baby.

He was really cute if Yuta was honest with himself.

Sicheng lifts his left hand, dangling a forest green blanket in his hand, "I brought you a blanket. Just in case you were going to stay with-" his eyes briefly flick over Yukhei, "-Him again."

Not just any blanket. His  _ favourite _ blanket.

"Um," Yuta blinks at him drearily before looking at Yukhei.

"Your fine," Yukhei gives him a small grin, "I'm just going to read all night. Or stare at pictures all night."

Yuta giggles at him before turning back to Sicheng, "I'll be there in a few minutes."

The witch pulls a face which he supposes is supposed to be some kind of terrible attempt at a smile.

After a few minutes of Yuta gaining up the courage to remove himself and go to bed, he finally stands. Yukhei quickly stops him though, a cold hand around his wrist.

"If it means anything," he says, watching Yuta closely, "I used to think Xiaojun hated me too."

Yuta's not sure what he's referring to. He stands there staring at him dumbly for a solid few seconds before the voices of his coven members down the hall snap him out of it.

Even after Yukhei lets go and Yuta walks away, he can't stop mulling over what the dead boy had said.

 

///

 

When Yuta wakes up the next morning, he's content and warm. The little black kitty's head is snuggled deep into the pool of his green blanket, his chest vibrating with purrs. The rest of the bed is cold though. Empty.

Sicheng's already up then, by the looks of it. Somehow managing to leave the bed without disturbing the kitty curled up on the end of his bed.

Yuta's the only familiar who doesn't get the honour of cuddling up with his witch. And the only familiar who sleeps in his cat form anymore. At first, when any of the familiars were summoned, they slept as Yuta did now. On a blanket or a pillow on the floor or on the end of their witch's bed.

Now, they were all comfortable and affectionate with their witch. Hendery slept cuddled up to Yangyang as if the witch were his own personal teddy bear. Jeno had a strange habit of curling up at the end of Chenle's bed in his human form. And Taeyong and Ten both sandwiched Kun almost all of the time, so it wasn't a surprise in the slightest that they did the same when they slept.

Yuta had at first slept on the floor in his blanket. Now, he slept at the end of Sicheng's bed. He supposes it was somewhat of an upgrade, but he still yearns to be cuddled up to like the rest.

With a faint meow, the cat stretches himself out rolling over with his little ears twitching. He stretches again as he gets up, claws poking and pulling at the covers for a moment. Then, on his little paws, he pads over to Sicheng's pillow and plops back down again.

The scent of his witch is stronger here. More comforting.

"Yuta, hi, good morning."

The cat startles, sitting upright and blinking at the boy in the doorway. The boy is smiling at him, his own grey stripey familiar bundled up in his arms.

It's just Yangyang and Hendery.

Hendery, who is a content purring mess in Yangyang's arms meows at the black cat in front of him, his tail waving around in the air. Yuta gets to his feet and meows back, stretching his limbs out for the last time.

Yangyang giggles, pressing a kiss atop the fur on Hendery's forehead, "Kun told me to come to wake you. Breakfast is ready."

Meowing again, the black cat leaps off of the bed and follows the younger boy out of the room. Instead of heading towards the kitchen like the other two, Yuta makes a left, his little paws padding against the wooden floor as he heads back towards the library.

Yukhei isn't there. Someone must have already retrieved him earlier or he must have left on his own. Yuta is just about to head back down the hall when his ears twitch at the sound of what is almost yelling. Arguing.

It's coming from further into the house, seemingly the master bedroom- Kun's bedroom.

Yuta considers not following the voices for a moment, but when the voices become clearer enough to recognize, he finds himself trotting toward the noises. He's surprised to hear Taeyong and Sicheng arguing back and forth, the two usually got along brilliantly.

He almost wants to step in, but he decides against it, sitting against the wall with his little green eyes peering through the doorway. There's steam coming from the en suite bathroom. Ten must still be in the shower.

Taeyong's still lying in bed, his arms and chin are tucked over a pillow, watching Sicheng from where he lies. His shirt is clearly unbuttoned, and from this angle, Yuta can only see his pale collarbones that are blemished with red bites- surely from Ten, Kun doesn't seem like the biting type. He's looking at Sicheng like he's bored of the conversation, almost annoyed.

Yuta's never seen Taeyong look at Sicheng like that before.

He can't see Sicheng's face from where he stands. Just his back. The witch is already fully dressed but his hair is still messy. His arms are crossed against his chest and his shoulders are tensed. Yuta can see the slight clench of his jaw.

" _ I don't understand _ ," Taeyong drawls, blinking at the witch, "You  _ want _ us to vote to help the vampires?"

Sicheng barely nods at him.

The familiar quirks an eyebrow, "You  _ hate  _ the vampires, Sicheng."

He huffs, "I don't hate the vampires."

"Ah," Taeyong's lips lift into a small knowing smirk, "You hate Taeil."

" _ I don't hate Taeil _ ," Sicheng snaps, turning away from the boy, "I just don't like the way he-"

"Cares about Yuta? Loves Yuta?"

"- _ Treats Yuta _ ," Sicheng sneers, "Yuta isn't his servant."

"Sicheng-"

"Fuck off," Sicheng cuts him off, throwing him an ugly glare, "Don't change the subject."

There's a rattle of a shower curtain being pulled back and a moment later a curious Ten is wandering into the bedroom with a trail of steam following behind him. He's holding a towel loosely around his hips, and he's sporting matching love bites that trail down the expanse of his neck and down to his waist. Yuta wouldn't be surprised if the bites trailed further down to where he couldn't see them.

"What's going on?" Ten asks, eyebrows raised.

Taeyong sighs, stretching his arms out to grab Ten's waist and pull him closer. Sicheng rolls his eyes in disgust and Yuta almost bolts from his spot in the hallway when Taeyong places a wet open-mouthed kiss below Ten's ear. The fellow familiar hums in appreciation.

Instead of pulling away, Taeyong noses the side of Ten's neck, "Sicheng wants us to vote to  _ help _ the vampires."

"But Sicheng hates the vampires."

"That's exactly what I said!" Taeyong looks up to catch eyes with his lover.

Ten can't seem to resist the sparkling of Taeyong's eyes despite his audience, leaning to kiss Taeyong fully on the mouth.

He finally looks up at Sicheng, ignoring the witch's cringed out face, "You almost tore Taeil's throat out yesterday, and now you want to help him?"

Yuta's eyes are solely on Sicheng now, awaiting his witch's response.

He clenches and unclenches his jaw a few times, seemingly chewing on the words to decide what he wants to say.

Sicheng blows air out of his nose in frustration, "If the vote is against helping the vampires, Yuta is just going to go out and find those werewolves by himself. I just don't-"

"Want to lose him," Ten finishes for him, running his hand through Taeyong's hair.

Sicheng scowls, "I don't want him to get captured and questioned by hunters."

"You also don't wanna lose him," Ten reiterates, eyebrows raised knowingly.

Yuta can feel Sicheng's eye roll from here.

"Why did you come to me about it? Why not just go straight to Kun?" Taeyong asks while curling his fingers between Ten's.

"Kun will listen to you."

"Kun would listen to you too if you were more honest with not only to him but to yourself," he retorts with a snort.

Sicheng's shoulder drop and he uncrosses his arms, staring at the two familiar cuddled up on the bed helplessly.

"Please," he begs.

Taeyong sighs, pulling himself from Ten's hold, "Okay, fine. I'll see what I can do."

With that, Taeyong stands. The older familiar makes eye contact with Yuta, and the black cat freezes on the spot, green eyes staring helplessly.

He turns to flee, but he doesn't make it that far down the hallway before Taeyong catches up to him and scoops him up into his arms.

Taeyong tickles the cat's belly, a cheeky and smug look on his face, "It's not nice to eavesdrop on people's conversations, kitty."

Yuta meows guiltily at him, paws coming up to whack the little belly hanging from Taeyong's collar. He adjusts himself in Taeyong's hold, eyes blinking over his shoulder only to meet the eyes of a stormy Sicheng.

His witch follows behind Taeyong quietly but Yuta can feel his bad mood hanging around him like a bad smell. He's waiting for Sicheng to say something. Anything. Scold him. Snap at him. But all his witch does is look at him without an expression he can place.

Entering the kitchen was an awkward experience. The entire room was silent and Yuta wasn't sure if that were due to Sicheng's tense aura or the discussion the entire coven was about to have.

The black cat leaps out of Taeyong's arms only to leap back up onto Yukhei. He curls himself into the boy's lap, rubbing his head against the ghost's tummy. A large hand comes up to pat and scratch between his ears and Yuta can feel himself begin to melt into a puddle of purrs.

"No cats at the dining table," Kun tuts, eyeing the pair of them as he places a plate stacked with toast in the centre of the table.

The cat huffs, ignoring all of the eyes of his coven-mates watching the interaction between him and the ghost boy.

With a brief puff of smoke, a very much human looking Yuta appears in Yukhei's lap, leaning his head back against the boy's shoulder. He watches Kun add the finishing touches to the large breakfast he's prepared before his eyes flicker to the man sitting directly across from him.

Sicheng stares right back.

Taeyong's taken his place next to the head of the table where Kun sits and opposite him, a chair remains empty for Ten. Hendery's beside Sicheng, playing rock-paper-scissors with Yangyang who's on his other side. Next to Yuta is Chenle, who's leaning on Jeno's side and whining about something. Donghyuck gets to sit on the opposite of the table without his familiar.

Yuta and Donghyuck have that in common- the fact that they don't sit with their witch or familiar.

Ten’s Donghyuck's familiar. Their relationship was one extreme to the next. One moment they worked together really well and the next they were at each other's throats. Eventually, it was just the latter, and Kun had to remove Ten from their shared room. And somewhere along the way Kun and his familiar went from a duo to a trio after falling in love with him.

Donghyuck was the most fully capable witch that Yuta had ever met and he honestly seemed to thrive even without a familiar by his side. Plus, he and Jeno got along great, so if he ever needed a familiar's guidance he just went to him.

The arrangement worked out for everyone.

For Yuta though, the reason he and Sicheng didn't sit side by side was that out of all of their coven-mates they were the least physically affectionate with one another.

Kun seemed to need to have one of his hands on one of his lovers at all times possible. Chenle couldn't sit still if Jeno wasn't holding his hand. Yangyang liked to get up in Hendery's face to make fun of him. Donghyuck liked to daydream about his two potential vampire boyfriends.

Sicheng and Yuta just ate their food.

Today was slightly different though because Yuta had someone to touch. To cuddle.

Yukhei.

The ghost boy was sitting in Yuta's usual seat, and there weren't any spare chairs so there was no real reason to remove himself from Yukhei's lap. Plus, Yukhei didn't seem to mind. Yukhei seemed to enjoy the physical contact as much as Yuta did, with his arms circling the smaller man's waist and with his chin atop Yuta's shoulder, he seemed quite happy to sit there and watch them all eat.

Sicheng on the other hand, judging by the look in his eyes, wasn’t all that impressed. 

Yuta decides to pay him no mind, breaking eye contact with his witch to greet Ten who had finally joined them in the dining room, now completely clothed. Ten beams at the coven as he settles in his seat, his hand immediately reaching for Kun's thigh.

"So," Kun says, making all the kids on the opposite end of the table freeze with their hand's mid-air in an attempt to snatch food, "We need to talk."

Yuta shifts around in Yukhei's lap in nervousness, and the boy under him has to squeeze his hips to keep him from squirming. He can feel Sicheng glaring at Yukhei's hands without even turning his head to see him.

"Yuta wants to help find Yukhei's pack," Kun explains, both of his hands now occupied by Ten and Taeyong's, "What do you all think?"

All of the kids just blink at him innocently.

"There are potentially hunters after them," Kun continues, watching the kids' reactions carefully, "And it could be dangerous for us."

It's silent for a few moments while the coven takes their time to think. It's not long before Chenle decides to speak up.

"I wanna help," he says, "If something had happened to Jeno- or one of you. Or if something had happened to me- I'd want someone to bring me home," he says recalling Yuta's words from the day before.

Yuta smiles gratefully at him, reaching to his right to give Chenle's arm a thankful squeeze.  Jeno looks hesitant but he nods in agreement nonetheless.

"I think it'd be fun," Yangyang grins before taking a massive bite out of a slice of toast.

Hendery side-eyes his witch, "You think being murdered could be fun?"

"Well no, I think _ almost _ being murdered could be fun-"

Kun looks absolutely horrified, "Yangyang,  _ no! _ "

Yangyang shrugs innocently, mouth still full of bread.

"Yeah okay, I'm in," Hendery says, snagging his own piece of toast and some sausage.

Yukhei's grip on Yuta's waist gets tighter in anticipation. Just a few more votes and the majority would rule.

"Donghyuck?"

The clairvoyant witch blinks, "Uh. Okay."

Kun quirks an eyebrow, "Okay?"

"Yeah," Donghyuck shrugs, picking up some food on his fork, "It'd be my good deed for the year."

The Head Witch looks somewhat frustrated with the outcome so far. He's obviously unhappy that his coven wants to get involved in a situation that could be dangerous. At the end of the day, he could just scrap the vote altogether and say no. But this was Kun, and Kun called a vote so he'd go through with it.

"I want to help them too," Sicheng announces, his head held up high.

Kun looks surprised. And so does Yuta, despite eavesdropping on the earlier conversation. When Sicheng turns to look at him, Yuta can feel his throat dry up and his stomach flip.

Ten hums, a playful smirk on his lips and a glint in his eye, "I'm all for it. I think reuniting Yukhei with his lover boy will be super romantic."

"Taeyong?" Kun asks, looking to his other lover for his opinion.

Said boy swallows, glancing at Sicheng before looking to the Head Witch, "I'm sure it'll be fine."

Kun bites the inside of his cheek, still looking sceptical but he nods anyway.

Yuta can feel Yukhei grinning against the back of his neck, his fists balled up in the sides of Yuta's sleep shirt.

"Thank you," he mumbles, though Yuta's sure he's the only one that can probably hear him.

Without any more discussion, Kun waves his hand and the coven begins to eat. Hands reach in and snatch food. There's some bickering over who wants and gets what. Yuta pouts when he realizes there isn't any sausage left. When he looks back down at his plate, there's one sitting there though.

He blinks down at it owlishly before glancing behind him to look at Yukhei, who is distracted by a conversation he's having with Ten across the table. Yuta shrugs slightly before taking a bite out of the sausage, glancing up only to make eye contact with his witch.

_ Oh.  _ Did Sicheng put this on his plate when he wasn't looking?

He doesn't dare ask.

To his surprise, Sicheng smiles at him. Close-lipped and small, but a smile nonetheless.

 

///

 

"Okay," Kun slams a ton of stuff onto the living room floor, "Here's the plan."

"You came up with a plan through the fifteen minutes we were eating breakfast?" Donghyuck asks, eyebrows raised behind his fringe.

Ten smiles slyly, draping himself over his lover, "Kun's incredible like that."

The Head Witch chuckles, pulling Ten into a soft and quick kiss that leaves Ten whining for more. Taeyong lies his head in Kun's lap, blinking up at him with his lips puckered up. It's Ten who steals a kiss from him first.

Each member of the coven collectively cringes at once at the sight of the three of them all over each other.

"We have to go back to Yukhei's house," the Head Witch says, ignoring the disgusted faces of his coven-mates, "Look for something to use to scry for them."

"Couldn't we just use Yukhei's ring?" Yangyang frowns.

Sicheng shakes his head from where he stands, leaning against the arm of the couch, "The ring is connected to Yukhei, if we scry using it we'll only be led back to where he is. We need to find an item of clothing or a hair of one of the other pack members."

"Chenle and Jeno will stay here and set everything up to scry. I'll go with Yuta and Yukhei back to the house," Kun instructs, "The rest of you can do whatever you please. Just don't blow anything up. Please, god, don't blow anything up."

Ten looks like he wants to object, by Taeyong kisses his wrist and it shuts him right back up. Sicheng, on the other hand, isn't going to give up that easily.

"I'm coming too," he says with finality.

Kun shakes his head, "I don't want to bring more of us than necessary."

" _ I'm coming too _ ," Sicheng repeats, eyes narrowed.

The Head Witch grinds his teeth in annoyance for a moment before he breathes out a calming breath.

"Fine." With that, he stands. Kun heads straight to the kitchen to gather a few last things. Chenle and Jeno are already headed to the library to get what they need. Taeyong and Ten are in their only little universe, kissing quietly with the younger in Taeyong's lap. Yangyang and Hendery have already gone to either take a nap or blow something up.

Yukhei gives Yuta a smile before following the Head Witch to the kitchen, just leaving Yuta crouched on the floor and Sicheng leaning against the couch.

They make awkward eye contact for the millionth time that morning but this time, Sicheng tries to flee. Yuta's quick on his feet though, reaching out and wrapping his fingers around his witch's wrist.

"Sicheng," he swallows the lump in his throat, "Thank you."

The witch's shoulders drop, sliding his wrist out of Yuta's grasp and replacing it with his own hand. Yuta watches in confusion when Sicheng's fingers tangle with his own. The moment is over in a split second. Sicheng squeezes before letting go and turning away from him. He almost misses the small smile on Sicheng’s lips.

Yuta feels paralyzed for a moment. His heart beating wildly in his chest and his throat tight. He has to hold his hands to his heart in an attempt to calm himself down for a minute before he can follow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hiiii i feel like i haven't updated in months but it's only been like a week or so lol jsawhdjwj what was your favourite part about this chapter?
> 
> mine was all the kuntaeten i wrote jsjsjsjsjs and the yukhei x yuta broship content i wrote
> 
> you can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/ncteabag) and [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/ncteabag)


	5. oh pretty kitty.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Cute," Kun squishes the kitty's cheeks, "Don't you think he looks pretty, Sicheng?"
> 
> Yuta hopes Sicheng can't identify the hopeful look that shines in his eyes when he turns to look at his witch. He feels his heart drop a little when the only reaction he gets is a quick glance.

The house looked less intimidating in the daylight. It looked more sad and despairing than scary. Some of the fire had travelled to the grass around the property, leaving parts of the ground black. Yukhei's facial expression is grim when he looks at the remnants of his old home.  
  
The first thing Yuta notices when he gets out of the car isn't the bright yellow police tape and signs warning off anyone one willing to trespass. It's the door. Open and gaping, swaying slightly in the wind.  
  
Someone had been inside recently. Or was still inside.  
  
"Stay here," Kun says, grabbing hold of Sicheng before he can exit the vehicle, "Yuta can go make sure no one's home first."  
  
Sicheng scowls at the Head Witch, "Are you serious?"  
  
"People are less likely to be suspicious of a cat wandering around than four men," he replies, eyebrows raised as if he was challenging Sicheng to defy him.  
  
"Yukhei can come with me," Yuta suggests.  
  
Both witches' eyes turn to stare at the dead boy in the back seat. Sicheng doesn't look like he enjoys that idea very much. Kun, on the other hand, seems to be considering it.  
  
"Fine," Kun quips, holding a hand out, "I need the charm around your neck. And your ring."  
  
Yukhei grips the charm around his neck protectively, "What? No way. I can't touch anything without the charm or go anywhere if I'm not wearing the ring."  
  
Yuta places a hand on the anxious boy's shoulder, "Yukhei, it's gonna be kind of strange if one of your old neighbours spots a boy that supposedly died wandering around his burnt-to-a-crisp house."  
  
He's reluctant to hand any of the items over- which is expected. But after a few moments of hesitancy, he slides the ring from his finger and places it in Yuta's palm. Then he unties the charm from his neck to give to the Head Witch in the front seat.  
  
When Yukhei's physical form dissipates, the two witches were left staring at empty space, Yuta now being the only one able to see him.  
  
"How am I supposed to wear the ring in cat form?" Yuta frowns, playing with the ring between his fingers.  
  
Kun smiles at him, fishing something out of his pocket. A collar. It's a pretty forest green- one of Yuta's favourite colours. Yuta feels his breath hitch in his throat.  
  
"Is that..." he trails off, gaze flickering from the collar to his witch, who is staring out of the window with a pinch between his brows.  
  
"For you?" Kun's smile grows incredibly fonder, "Yes. Hendery told me you liked Ten's and Taeyong's collars, so I bought you one."  
  
Yuta can only gape at the Head Witch.  
  
"Sicheng helped me pick the colour," Kun admits.  
  
That gets Sicheng's attention. He doesn't turn to look at Yuta, but Yuta can see the way his facial expression changes briefly. He looks at his hands, rubbing his knuckles nervously. His throat bobs. Sicheng looks kind of embarrassed.  
  
Does that mean...?  
  
"When you asked what colour Yuta looked prettiest in, I didn't know you were going to buy him a collar," Sicheng grinds his teeth.  
  
Oh.  
  
Yuta feels stupid for even considering the fact that Sicheng might have taken part in buying a gift for him.  
  
"You don't want me to wear it," Yuta says, eyes on the back of Sicheng neck.  
  
They lock eyes through the rear-view mirror. Sicheng doesn't respond.  
  
"I'll just wear it this once," Yuta promises, on the verge of begging, "I swear."  
  
Kun looks like he wants to butt in, but a quick glare from Sicheng keeps him from saying anything. Sicheng clenches and unclenches his jaw. He looks slightly pissed off. Yuta's not sure if the anger is aimed at him or not.  
  
"Okay," is what Sicheng finally spits out.  
  
Yuta gives him the quickest and tiniest smile before his body explodes into black smoke, his little kitty form replacing his human one. The cat jumps back into the car, the ring between his jaws. Kun scoops him up and pulls him into his lap, scratching the fur behind Yuta's ears.  
  
Yuta drops the ring in Kun's lap, meowing loudly.  
  
Kun giggles at him, his nose scrunched up, "Thank youuu," he singsongs, pressing a quick peck on the side of the kitty's forehead.  
  
The cat has to hold himself back from whining when Kun lets go of him. Kun slides the ring onto the collar as if it's a pendant hanging from a necklace before he secures it around Yuta's neck.  
  
When the cat looks up at Kun, it looks like he's smiling, his green eyes wide and sparkly. He meows up at the Head Witch happily.  
  
"Cute," Kun squishes the kitty's cheeks, "Don't you think he looks pretty, Sicheng?"  
  
Yuta hopes Sicheng can't identify the hopeful look that shines in his eyes when he turns to look at his witch. He feels his heart drop a little when the only reaction he gets is a quick glance.  
  
"Sure," Sicheng all but sneers, eyes glaring over at Kun.  
  
Kun looks at Sicheng the same way a parent looks at a child when they're about to be scolded.  
  
Yukhei pitches in before he can say anything, "I think you look pretty," Yukhei pipes up from the backseat.  
  
Yuta meows in response, pleased.  
  
With that, Yuta climbs out of Kun's lap and into Sicheng's. He gracefully jumps through the open window, landing on all four of his feet. Yukhei, whose invisible to the eye, follows him.  
  
When Yuta reaches the front door of the house, he turns back to give the witches one final look, eyes immediately settling on Sicheng who stares after him.  
  
Only cats and clairvoyants could see the dead. And maybe the occasional grim reaper, but it wasn't like you ran into those guys every day. There were rumours that werewolves could sometimes see the dead but as far as Yuta knew it was just that. A rumour.  
  
What Yuta did know about werewolves was that they could sense the dead. They had a keener sense when it came to spirits but not quite keen enough to actually see them.  
  
So it didn't surprise Yuta to find two obvious werewolf males with their buff and tall stature crouched over an ouija board box, seemingly about to attempt talking to someone from beyond the grave.  
  
"Johnny and Jaehyun," the dead boy behind him breathes, a hint of longing attached to his voice.  
  
Yuta glances at the ghost briefly before wandering further in quietly- his collar was without a bell so he was almost silent when he moved.  
  
He assumes one of the men is an alpha. Yukhei's alpha.  
  
"I'm telling you he's not here," sighs the one with a softer face, "I can't feel him. I can't feel anyone here."  
  
"He has to be here," the other one says, his dominating feature being the poutiness of his lips, "He can't just not be a ghost. And his spirit can't have just upped and left. Not without a soul object. You said it yourself, Yukhei's ring wasn't on his corpse. Therefore- it has to be here somewhere."  
  
"We don't even know if the soul object is the ring-"  
  
Pouty lips gives the other an incredulous look.  
  
"-Yeah okay that's fair," the other sighs again, "Xiaojun meant- means everything to Yukhei. It has to be the ring."  
  
"Which is why we have to find it."  
  
The softer one grabs pouty lip's wrist before he can take the lid off of the ouija box. The other one freezes as his companion's hand trails up along his arm and settling on his neck in a soft embrace.  
  
Yuta feels like he's peeping in on an intimate moment.  
  
"Johnny-" the other one halts, his nose twitching, "Wait, do you feel that?"  
  
Pouty lips- Johnny -gapes like a fish for a moment before he grabs his companions face and kisses him square on the lips, a grin lighting up his face.  
  
"He's here- He's here!" Johnny almost squeals, "Yukhei! Yukhei's here. That's got to be him. Pull out the ouija board so he can talk to us."  
  
Yuta's itching to move. Itching to go get Kun. But he can feel Yukhei's reluctance to leave.  
  
So he sits. Tail swishing behind him while the dead boy watches his pack members attempt to contact him via a demonic invention. He almost laughs when at the sight of the ouija board. It'll work alright, but unless you were a witch you wouldn't be able to tell if you were communicating with a demon, ghost or even possible a god.  
  
"Stop," the whole room freezes when Jaehyun speaks, "Someone's coming."  
  
Yuta can hear it too. The sound of the footsteps is familiar. And they're approaching fast.  
  
"Go," Johnny stands, already moving to the opposite end of the house, "Out of the back window. Quick."  
  
Yuta barely has time to react before the two wolves are fleeing down the hallway. Yukhei reacts faster. The ghost chases them to the back of the house, watching helplessly as his pack members climb out through the window.  
  
Johnny looks into the house one last time, staring straight through Yukhei and making eye contact with the strange cat sitting at the end of the hall. Johnny's vision tunnels in on the ring that hangs around his throat.  
  
He knows.  
  
Yet, Jaehyun doesn’t give Johnny a chance to even think about coming back. He's gone. Into the trees that forest around the back of the house. Johnny only hesitates for a moment more before he turns and wanders back into the trees.  
  
"-Yuta?"  
  
The cat's neck snaps towards the sound of his name.  
  
"Yuta?"  
  
He glances at Yukhei, who quite rightly looks upset, before looking back towards the front door. It's Sicheng, looking stressed and slightly frantic. Kun looms in the doorway behind him.  
  
The only evidence that the two werewolves had been there was the ouija board sprawled out along the floor.  
  
"Are you okay?" Sicheng asks, eyebrows furrowed, his arms crossed against his chest in a defensive stance.  
  
Yuta meows, padding towards the two witches. To his surprise, Sicheng picks him up in his arms and hugs him to his chest, his eyes darting around the house for any sign of danger. The witch’s body is tensed up, alert.  
  
Yuta has to stop himself from purring.  
  
The expressions on Sicheng and Kun's face mirror each other. Both stern and a little spooked.  
  
"Hunters," Sicheng says, running a hand down the cat's neck, "They pulled up outside. They took some photos and then left but you hadn't come out yet and-"  
  
"We came to check on you," Kun finishes.  
  
Yuta takes his head off of Sicheng's shoulder to blink up at the witch. Sicheng's looking right back down at him.  
  
Sicheng was never this touchy with him. Not in cat form. Most certainly not in human form. He had never scratched behind his ears or patted him on the tummy. Affection wasn't something Sicheng would show with any of his coven-mates very often but he always avoided it to the best of his ability when it came to Yuta.  
  
It's strange.  
  
It made Yuta kind of confused, worried, suspicious that Sicheng was acting this way but he couldn't deny how warm and fizzy he felt inside every time Sicheng's fingertips massaged through his fur.  
  
He needs to get out of his hold though, so he can shift. So he can talk to them, and so he can bring Yukhei back into the physical plane.  
  
So, the cat begins to squirm in his arms but Sicheng doesn’t appear to want to let him go. With one last nudge, Yuta rubs his furry head against Sicheng's chin before he expels black smoke.  
  
When the smog dissipates, Sicheng's hands are holding his hips rather than his cat form. It feels like an eternity before he can direct his gaze on something other than Sicheng's face. His eyes. His nose. His lips. Yuta feels himself flush scarlet.  
  
Yuta clears his throat roughly, "They were we here," he tells them, looking at Kun, "Two of Yukhei's pack members were here."  
  
He looks down at the demonic game lying haphazardly on the floor, Kun's gaze follows his own. The Head Witch snorts, kicking the game with his shoe.  
  
"An ouija board?" Kun guffaws, "Unbelievable. They didn't use this did they?"  
  
Yuta shakes his head.  
  
A hand on Yuta's hips moves upwards to rub at bare skin and his heart almost comes out of his throat. Yuta can still Sicheng looking at his face but he can't bring himself to look at him.  
  
"Good," the Head Witch shakes his head in amusement, "They might've summoned a demon if they had tried."  
  
Kun turns to face him fully, and it gives Yuta a chance to pull himself from Sicheng's grip. He mourns the loss of touch, despite the fact that it had made his heart race and his hands shake.  
  
Kun holds out the charm in front of him, "Yukhei," he says, the instructions in the statement.  
  
Yuta nods awkwardly, making a sound of recognition in the back of his throat as he snatches the charm from his hand. He has to hold himself back from looking at Sicheng, turning on his heel and staring at the floor.  
  
He walks his way back down the hallway, where Yukhei resides, still helplessly staring out the window after his pack members. Yuta doesn't wait for Yukhei to turn around before he loops the necklace carrying the charm around the back of the ghost's neck.  
  
It's only when the chain settles that Yukhei startles, spinning around on his feet to grab Yuta by the arm.  
  
"Oh," Yukhei mutters, looking somewhat disappointed, "It's just you."  
  
"Just me," Yuta echoes, trying to smile at him, "I'm sorry they got away. Hunters were out the front. Sicheng and Kun came to check on us and the sound of them approaching must have startled them."  
  
Yukhei drops his hand, nodding, "Oh. We'll find them again, right?"  
  
"Yeah. We will. I promise, okay?"  
  
The smile Yukhei gives him is grateful.  
  
Yuta fiddles with the ring on his finger for a moment before sliding it all the way off. He grabs a hold of Yukhei's palm to slide it onto the rightful owner's finger. Yuta squeezes Yukhei's palm a reassuring squeeze before he drags him back down the hall to the witches waiting for them.  
  
"Did you have a chance to look around?" Kun asks as he puts the ouija board box away, "Find any clothes? Hairbrushes?"  
  
Yuta pouts almost guiltily, "No."  
He had been too busy watching the two buff werewolves trying to play with spirits in the living room.  
  
"Okay then," Kun stands up, dusting off his jeans, "Let's split up then. I'm sure we'll find something. They couldn't possibly have taken much stuff whilst their house was going up in flames."  
  
Yukhei grimaces.  
  
"Sorry, Yukhei," Kun winces, "C'mon, Sicheng."  
  
Sicheng, who hadn't taken his eyes off of Yuta since he walked back into the room, blinked, finally turning his attention to the Head Witch who was looking at him expectantly.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Me- you- upstairs."  
  
Sicheng looks like he's about to protest but Kun's already walking away from him, expecting Sicheng to come along. He gives Yuta one last look, a strange expression on his face before he finally follows. 

 

///

 

There's only one bedroom on the ground floor of the house. Every other room was for utilities like the laundry or the kitchen, living room and dining room and a bathroom.  
  
They had tried the bathroom first, because of Yukhei's recommendation to. Yuta had at first suggested they tried the bedroom but Yukhei had looked spooked at the idea and quickly suggested otherwise.  
  
The bathroom was an absolute no-go though. The white tile was blackened with soot and the cupboards were burnt shut. What looked like a couple of toothbrushes were burnt and melted on top of the sink. Objectively, they could have taken the toothbrushes, seeing as they were an item that the werewolves would have regularly used, but it would have been a shit-show to try and ply the melted plastic off of the basin.  
  
Despite is prior reluctance, Yukhei and he wandered out of the bathroom pretty quickly and into the bedroom.  
  
The room looked almost untouched by the fire on one side, but the other was black and brown from where the fire had burned before it had been put out. Thankfully, the closet and bed was position on the side that hadn't been licked at by flames.  
  
The other half was sad and grim. Picture frames and paintings were burnt to a crisp, fallen from their spot on the walls. A potted plant had been robbed of its life in the corner beside the owner's desk.  
  
"This was Xiaojun's room," Yukhei mutters, a sad longing look on his face and an edge to his voice.  
  
A wave of dread washed over Yuta, and he reached over to give Yukhei's arms a squeeze before he forced himself to walk further into the room.  
  
Yuta goes straight to the charred desk, picking up a semi-burnt picture frame, the glass blacked out with soot. He hears Yukhei shuffle around the room behind him, the sound of coat-hangers scratching against metal as he sorts through Xiaojun's wardrobe.  
  
With his sleeve, Yuta wipes away the black dirt from the photograph, coming face to face with a brightly smiling Yukhei and a boy with a sharp jaw and intense eyebrows.  
  
Cute.  
  
"What..."  
  
The sound of Yukhei's voice brings Yuta back into focus, finding Yukhei leaning over the bed, holding the pillow in his hands. A pile of clothes sat where the pillow was lying. Yukhei all but throws the pillow onto the floor.  
  
Yukhei unfolds the sweatshirt that lays on the type, holding it out in front of himself, "This is mine," Yukhei says, laughing in disbelief, "I thought I had lost it ages ago. But he's had it. He's been-" Yukhei's eyebrows are furrowed as he grins stupidly, "He's been sleeping in my sweater. My clothes!"  
  
Yuta laughs at him rather than with him, finding the enamoured boy funny.  
  
"This is it," Yukhei says, tucking the shirt under his arm, "We can use this right?"  
  
Honestly, there's probably a chance that it won't work. The item needed to mean something to the owner, and Yuta had no real way to judge if Xiaojun was as fond of Yukhei as Yukhei was of Xiaojun.  
  
But judging by the fact Xiaojun kept a picture of Yukhei on his desk and he stole Yukhei's clothes, he wouldn't be surprised if it did work for what they were trying to do.  
  
"Sure," Yuta says even though he isn't one hundred percent, "I'm sure it'll work."  
  
Yukhei grins at him, almost skipping out of the room as he calls for Sicheng and Kun.  
  
On his way out, Yuta grabs the photo frame off of the desk, admiring the face of the two happy boys in the photograph. He slips it under his arm, already thinking of the perfect place to keep it on top of the library fireplace.

 

///

 

Night had fallen when they returned.  
  
Kun and Sicheng had easily obtained an item of Johnny's, Jaehyun's and Jungwoo's, but the four of them had to scour the city for any of the remaining ingredients they needed for the spell.  
  
If it hadn't been for Chenle's failed experiment two days before, they probably would have had almost everything. Sadly, whatever blew up in Chenle's face had also blown up any ingredients around him, so it had taken them all day to travel to every corner and crevice in the city to search for the things they needed.  
  
There was still one ingredient they couldn't find which would have to way for the following day. Rare kelp that only the seafolk could find and harvest. But it was too late now to find a seafolk hanging around the rocky bay outside the house. As soon as the sun set, seafolk went back below the ways to rest.  
  
It was only nine but the witches and familiars needed a good nights rest if they were to search and find where the werewolves were hiding.  
  
Ten had dragged Kun and Taeyong by the hands to bed a while ago, but Yuta was sure it wasn't because Ten wanted to sleep. Hendery and Yangyang were curled up on the couch together when they had arrived, and all Kun did was pull a blanket over them before leaving them to their own devices.  
  
Chenle and Jeno were still around though. Both of them were huddled around the large circular table in the library with him and Yukhei. Chenle animatedly explaining how scrying worked to a confused yet curious ghost.  
  
Quietly and without thought, Yuta had stepped away to the fireplace, pulling the photo frame from under his arm to position it on the mantle. His fingertips dusting away any remaining soot as he maneuvered it the way he wanted it.  
  
"Wow," Chenle cuts off from his previous conversation, "Is that your boyfriend, Yukhei?"  
  
Both Jeno and Yukhei direct their attention to where Yuta's standing, now stepped slightly back to admire the photograph.  
  
"Oh, I-" Yukhei's eyes dart over Yuta for a moment, "Yeah. No. Kinda."  
  
Chenle looks at Yukhei like he's stupid, "It's a yes or no question, dude."  
  
The dead boy grimaces, tearing his eyes away from the photograph to look at Chenle, "I wanted him to be. My boyfriend, I mean."  
  
"Oh," is all Chenle says in response, shrinking into himself guiltily.  
  
Yukhei comes forward to touch the picture, so Yuta moves to the side. Yukhei looks completely and utterly enamoured with the photograph, but there's a shine to his eyes that shows his sadness.  
  
"Alright," Jeno interrupts the silence, grabbing hold of Chenle's sleeve, "We're going to bed. Goodnight, Yuta. Goodnight, Yukhei."  
  
Yuta and Yukhei smile at him as he drags his witch from the library, Chenle calling his own goodnights as he goes.  
  
Then Sicheng's standing in the doorway, his arms wrapped around himself. His eyes are watching the way Yukhei handles the photograph, curious. Then Sicheng looks at Yuta instead, a minuscule smile on his face.  
  
"You coming to bed?" he asks.  
  
Yuta hesitates, glancing at Yukhei, "Are you okay by yourself?"  
  
Yukhei places the photograph back down, smiling down at Yuta, gratefulness all over his face.  
  
"Yeah," he says, "Goodnight."  
  
Just as Yuta starts to leave, already standing in the doorway next to Sicheng, Yukhei pipes up once more.  
  
"And Yuta?"  
  
Yuta hums.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
Yuta laughs lightly, giving Yukhei one last smile before brushing past Sicheng to head to his bedroom.  
  
The two of them are silent as Sicheng climbs into bed and crawls under his covers. It's the most unawkward silence Yuta feels like he's ever had with Sicheng. Yuta's halfway through pulling on his sleep shirt when Sicheng decides to break it.  
  
"Who's in that photograph?"  
  
It's not the kind of conversation Yuta expects Sicheng to start, but the genuine curiosity in his voice tells him not to question it.  
  
"Yukhei and the boy he loved. Loves," he explains.  
  
"Ah," Sicheng nods, snuggling into his pillow while he eyes Yuta pull the shirt over his chest, "His boyfriend."  
  
"Nope," Sicheng raises an eyebrow at this, "Yukhei didn't get the chance to tell him how he felt. They'll probably never be able to be together that way."  
  
It was true.  
  
Despite the charm around Yukhei's neck, he could only be brought into the physical plane for a certain amount of time before his soul got too weak. He'd last a month at most, but eventually, he'd dissipate and only reaper's or familiar's would ever be able to see him again.  
  
Maybe Yukhei would get the chance to tell Xiaojun he loved him, but they would never get the chance to be real lovers.  
  
When Yuta looks up to meet Sicheng's eyes, he discovers a look he doesn't see very often. The way Sicheng's lips pressed together and his pupils shook, eyebrows creased. Sicheng was scared. Worried.  
  
"What's wrong?" Yuta asks, sitting on the end of the bed, wanting to reach out and touch the witch but too scared to do so.  
  
"Nothing. It's just-" he runs a hand through his hair, "I'd hate to die without telling the person that I loved that I love them."  
  
Ah.  
  
Yuta smiles sadly at his witch, "Me too."  
  
Sicheng coughs a bit before swallowing roughly, avoiding all eye contact now. Yuta couldn't expect much different. That was always how Sicheng reacted when he felt like he had opened up too much.  
  
He quickly shifts, stretching in his cat form before curling himself up on his blanket. Sicheng switches the light off, and Yuta thinks that is that.  
  
He almost jumps when he's picked up, scooped up with his blanket still underneath him.  
  
Sicheng straightens out the folded blanket and Yuta doesn't move, completely and utterly startled by the action. Sicheng's never done this. Yuta didn't think Sicheng would ever do this.  
  
But here he was, curled up beside Sicheng's head rather than his feet. Which wasn't that much of an achievement to probably anyone else other than Yuta.  
  
"Goodnight," Sicheng whispers, thumb running along the side of the cat's face.  
  
Yuta lets out a quiet, almost undetectable meow, rubbing up against the hand next to his face. He almost jumps out of his skin when Sicheng leans forward and places a soft and quick kiss to his forehead.  
  
Sicheng leaves his hand resting on Yuta's back, rubbing slow circles.  
  
Yuta can't fall asleep until Sicheng's stopped moving and his breath has evened out. He stares at Sicheng's soft sleeping profile in the low-light for a good few moments before he can finally settle down the rapid beating of his heart.  
  
Then, he falls asleep. Purring softly, a pretty green collar still around his neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anyone: *breathes near yuta*  
> sicheng: ew what the fuck
> 
> dumb ass werewolf boyfriends johnjae try to summon demons for 2 minutes straight BIG SIGH..... kun gave yuta a collar and sichengs just a Tiny Bit Triggered, ALSO sicheng is starting to realise what he could miss out on if he doesn't keep yuta close to him :(( what was your favourite part of this chapter? if you have anything you didnt like you can tell me that too JSJSJSJSj
> 
> ALSO i kinda updated earlier than anticipated bc i was so motivated to write,, like i literally updated three days ago and im already updating again....EYE
> 
> you can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/ncteabag) and [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/ncteabag)


	6. under their noses.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The contents in the bowl bubble over as if it was boiling on a stove. The crystal is swinging more violently now. It startles everyone in the room when the concoction explodes in a small burst of sparks. The crystal yanks itself from Chenle's hand, targeting a place on the map.
> 
> "This can't be right," Kun mumbles, pulling the crystal from the map.

Something feels like it has changed when Yuta wakes up. He's not quite sure what but the energy in the air feels different.

Maybe it's the fact that Sicheng's still sleeping when he's woken up. Maybe it's the way Sicheng's hand is still nestled in his fur. Maybe Sicheng's just different.

Yuta surprises himself by getting up first. Nervously shaking Sicheng's hand out of his fur before stretching his kitty limbs out.

He pauses for a moment, taking in the way Sicheng's eyelashes tickle the tops of his cheeks. He almost contemplates nuzzling him to wake him up, but he decides against it.

Instead, he leaps off of the bed, shifting forms back to his human one. He stands, looking at his reflection. His hand comes up to touch the collar hanging from his neck. It's a plain and simple green collar, no bell unlike Ten's and Taeyong's whose jiggling drives him mad.

He glances at Sicheng's sleeping face before turning back around, fingers clasping the clip that kept it together.

"What are you doing?"

Yuta startles, catching Sicheng's sleepy eyes through the mirror. He's got a hand in his hair, combing the mess out with his fingers. His sleep shirts falling off of one of his shoulders, revealing warm honey skin. Sicheng licks his lips, sitting up to look at him better, lips pink and shiny.

Yuta swallows nervously.

"Keep it on," Sicheng tells him, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

He turns to face the witch properly, " _ What?  _ But, Sicheng-"

"Kun was right," Yuta holds his breath, "You do look pretty."

Yuta's brain seems to do a keyboard smash, all his thoughts jumble up into incoherent messes.

"But you said-"

"I didn't say anything," Sicheng interrupts, "You assumed. Listen, you like it so you wear it, okay?"

Sicheng and he have a staring contest for what feels like hours before Yuta takes a look back at his reflection.

Of course, he likes it. He's always a collar. Or an item to wear of some kind. But he didn't want it from  _ Kun _ . Kun was the Head Witch but he wasn't  _ Yuta's  _ witch. He reaches behind his neck and unfastens the collar, placing it down on the chest of drawers beside him.

_ I want it, but not like this _ , he thinks. He can't look Sicheng in the eye, he's sure that if he does he's going to say something he'll regret. Yuta swallows the lump that had risen in his throat, ignoring the eyes of Sicheng staring at him through the mirror.

He pulls his shirt over his shoulders, turning away from the mirror and focusing on the clothes hanging in the closet. He flicks through multiple t-shirts and jumpers before settling on a soft blue hoodie.

He's in the process of removing his sweatpants when he feels breathing against the back of his neck. Yuta looks up, eyes wide and confused when Sicheng's meet his in the mirror. He's not sure how he didn't notice him sneak up behind. He's got his hand held up as if about to reach out and touch him.

Yuta can feel his heart stuttering in his throat.

He turns around, almost stumbling into Sicheng's arms. There wasn't that much space between them.

"Yuta," Sicheng starts, eyes suddenly downcast, "I mean it. If you like it-"

"I like it," he cuts him off.

Sicheng blinks at him wordlessly.

Yuta rubs at the bare expanse of his neck nervously, "I like it," he repeats, "It's just not for me."

_ Not from you. _

"What do you mean?"

"It's not really my style," he says, which isn't a lie but it's far from the truth, "It's a bit... I don't know? Possessive?  _ Kinky? _ "

The witch hums to acknowledge he's listening. He's still too close to keep Yuta's heart from rattling in his chest. The familiar almost jumps out of his skin when Sicheng's fingertips touch the naked space of his neck, tracing along where the collar was just sitting. Yuta can feel the heat rushing to his face.

"I'll still wear it," he says, and it almost feels like a lie.

He will still wear it since it's a gift from Kun. He would never leave such a thoughtful gift sitting to collect dust. But the fact that it's not from Sicheng makes his tummy twist uncomfortably like he's betraying his witch in some way.

"I like much simplier accessories," Yuta finishes, shrugging slightly.

Sicheng looks up, staring almost past Yuta, focused on something beside him, "Like  jewellery ?"

Yuta tilts his head to the side, thinking. He thinks about the cute beaded bracelet that Yangyang made for Hendery. He thinks about all the little earrings that he's bought himself over the years.

"Yeah," he agrees, nodding, "I like jewellery."

The witch hums again, hands falling to his sides. He takes a step back, the suddenly amount of personal space Yuta has him feeling relieved but upset at the same time.

"Why?" Yuta asks curiously.

"I'm going to the bathroom," is all Sicheng says, backing up further and heading out of the room.

He leaves Yuta standing there, flabbergasted. His eyes are wide and his cheeks are still rosy. He's completely and utterly flustered. He finishes getting changed quickly, not wanting to be there when Sicheng comes back. He closes his eyes and breathes in and out for a moment, trying to calm his rapidly beating heart.

It was so strange. Yuta almost felt like someone had flipped a switch and suddenly he was in a bizarro universe.

Not only was Sicheng talking to him more. He was touching him. Every time he got the chance to feel Sicheng's fingertips on his skin or through his fur, it shook him and confused him all at once.

It wasn't a question of  _ what _ had changed, it was a question of  _ why  _ he had changed.

All Yuta knew was that he didn't want it to go back to how it used to be.

 

///

 

The disaster that was the kitchen didn't really surprise Yuta. There was flour everywhere, and Donghyuck and Ten were playing tug-of-war with a mixing bowl, batter spilling and splattering on the tiles under their feet.

"Good morning, Yutaaaaa," Donghyuck sings.

Distracted by Yuta's entrance, Donghyuck's grip weakens and Ten manages to tug the bowl free, a generous amount of the batter escaping the bowl as he dances around and cheers in victory. Yuta's surprised that they hadn't spilled the entire thing.

Donghyuck whines with a pout on his mouth. It only takes him a moment to get his hands back on the batter, the witch and familiar pulling back and forth.

Yuta just watches in amusement.

Eventually, Donghyuck snags the batter instead, poking his tongue out at the older boy in front of him. If this were a cartoon, steam would've been coming out of Ten's ears.

"Yuta," Ten blinks innocently at him, "Tell Donghyuck that pancakes are better than waffles."

The familiars stare at each other for a moment. Ten's eyes wide and begging like a child whereas Yuta wore a deadpan look.

"Waffles are better," he says easily, turning to look at Donghyuck, "Why are you cooking together anyway?"

Ten groans, rolling his eyes and laying dramatically against the bench. Donghyuck just rolls his eye as he scoops a generous amount of batter into a waffle iron.

"I asked him to help me make breakfast for everyone because-"

"He sucks at cooking."

"I don't suck! I just need some  _ help _ ."

"You suck."

" _ I don't suck! _ " Ten squawks indignantly, "You fucking suck," he says as he throws a spatula in Donghyuck's direction.

Remnants of the batter on the spatula hit Donghyuck's face when the spatula lands on the counter with a loud clang.

The two bicker back and forth for a couple dozen minutes. Squawking here. Yelling there. It's a miracle how Donghyuck seems to pile up waffles upon waffles on a plate as they argue. They're the only two people who Yuta has ever seen work so well together but at the same time so terribly.

Somehow in the midst of all the arguing, they all make their way into the dining room. Ten's sending jabs at the younger as he puts plates down. Donghyuck's still rolling his eyes and sticking his tongue out as he puts two waffles on everyone's respective plate.

The ceases suddenly while Yuta is putting the water jug down in the centre of the table. He looks up in confusion, only to realize that the reason for their silence is the Head Witch standing in front of them.

Yuta is preparing to hear Kun scold them, but there's something off about the witch's demeanour. His eyebrows are furrowed, and he's not looking anybody in the eye. Kun is nibbling his lower lip with obvious anxiety. It makes Yuta feel as nervous was Kun appears.

"Kunkun?" Ten asks quietly, his arguing with Donghyuck long forgotten, "What's wrong?"

The front door slams and three of them don't hesitate to turn around. Kun barely flinches.

Taeyong stands in the doorway, pulling a scarf from around his neck as he wanders back inside. Yukhei follows closely behind him, shutting the door with a quiet click. Taeyong's demeanour seems more hostile than Kun's. Fear turned into anger. His jaw twists in agitation.

"They're gone," he says, throwing his scarf onto the couch, crossing his arms over his chest, "All of them. I checked."

"Who's gone?" Ten asks, frustration bubbling in his eyes.

It isn't often that his boyfriends avoid telling him things.

"Hunters," Kun answers, shifting uncomfortably when all eyes shift back to him.

Donghyuck frowns, "What? On our beach?"

Taeyong slides himself easily into Ten's arms, burying his face in the other familiar's neck, "Mhm. Chenle was out collecting that last ingredient from one of the mermaids when they came."

Yuta feels his stomach drop, "Chenle-"

"He's fine. He cast a spell to keep himself from view. It also gave time for the mermaid to get away safely," Kun calms him down quietly, "They didn't come near the house, the wards seemed to have done the job."

The air in the house was suddenly filled with uneasy energy. All present members of the coven becoming tense at the news.

"Do you think they saw us?" Yuta asks, "Yesterday at the house?"

"No way," Kun shook his head, running a hand through his hair, "I cast a glamour on the car."

"No one other than the seafolk knows where we live," pipes up Donghyuck, "Not even the vampires know. Surely they can't have been here for any of us."

Kun shakes his head again, rubbing his face, "I don't know. I gotta- I gotta reinforce all the wards. Make them stronger. I don't know-"

"Kun," Ten wanders around to his lover, taking his hand, "Sit down. Eat some breakfast. We can figure this out later."

Ten, with Taeyong's help, manages to get the Head Witch to take his seat at the head of the table. It takes him a few minutes before he stops rubbing his temples. He sits up and breathes deeply, leaning into the soft kiss Taeyong presses against his hairline.

Kun's lovers take their place on either side of him, each holding one of his hands. Ten rubs circles into his skin while Taeyong puts aside his own frustration to murmur comforting words into his ear.

It's Donghyuck who collects the rest of the coven. One by one everybody makes their way into the dining room. Everyone calls a ' _ thank you _ ' to Donghyuck for making the waffles, ignoring Ten's pouty remark about having helped too.

Yukhei makes himself comfortable on the couch rather than being Yuta's lap to sit on as the coven begin to eat. Chenle's got his head on Jeno's shoulder. Yangyang is poking Hendery's cheeks. Donghyuck's dumping an entire can of whipped cream onto his waffles.

"Strawberries?"

Yuta looks up from his plate, his mouth scrunched up mid-chew.

Sicheng's holding out a small bowl of the fruit in front of him, ignoring the disgusted look on Ten's face beside him. Yuta smalls and nods, putting his cutlery down to take the bowl from his witch.

When Yuta looks back up at Sicheng, he gives the witch a small smile which Sicheng returns.

Yeah, Yuta thinks, I really don't want things to go back to how they were before.

 

///

 

It's about an hour later when Yuta finds himself back in the library. He, Kun, Yukhei, Donghyuck, Jeno and Chenle are all crowded around the round table. The map is pulled out nice and flat and Chenle's arranged all of his crystals. There's a bowl in the middle of the town map, a lump of disgusting ingredients inside, ready to be set on fire for the spell.

The rest of the coven is hanging behind them. Everyone was anticipating finding Yukhei's pack.

Donghyuck had already read the energy on Johnny, Jaehyun and Jungwoo's items. None of the emotional residue left was enough for the scrying spell to give them enough location.

Yukhei was getting frustrated and antsy, Yuta could see it all over his face.

"The photo-" Donghyuck started.

"No," Yuta snapped, unintentionally, startling both Donghyuck and almost the entire coven, "Try the clothes Xiaojun wore to sleep first."

Donghyuck frowned at him, "But-"

"Just  _ try _ ," Yuta pleaded.

He didn't want to have to burn the photo of Yukhei and his love if he didn't have to.

Donghyuck swallows any objections he might have had, picking up the sleep shirt from the table, holding it to his chest. His eyes glow purple for a moment, and Donghyuck's face twists in confusion.

He puts the shirt back down, eyes fading back to normal, "Well,"

Yukhei bounces on his feet, " _ Well what _ ?!"

"I should work," Donghyuck shrugs, "The energy on it is mixed with yours but the emotional tether to it is rather strong. It's weird. He must really care about you."

The ghost boy has a hard time hiding the way his face lights up. His giddiness is obvious.

Chenle has everyone take a step back- apart from Jeno that is -to begin the spell. He cuts a small chunk of the fabric off of the shirt, dropping it into the bowl.

The young witches eyes glaze over as he begins the start of the spell.

He has a crystal attached to a chain in his left-hand. It starts to spin around violently as he murmurs an ancient language under his breath. The match in his right-hand lights itself, and he drops the fire into the bowl.

The contents in the bowl bubble over as if it was boiling on a stove. The crystal is swinging more violently now. It startles everyone in the room when the concoction explodes in a small burst of sparks. The crystal yanks itself from Chenle's hand, targeting a place on the map.

It hits with a loud  _ thwack!  _ and the entire coven rushes forward to get a look at where it landed.

"Where is that?" Yukhei asks, towering over everybody else in the room, trying to make good of a map that he couldn't read.

Chenle moves out for way, falling back into Jeno's chest, blinking the spell-induced fog from his eyes.

Kun takes his place, leaning over the table to take a closer look.

The Head Witch's jaw drops open for a moment. It opens and closes again as he fumbles for his words.

"This can't be right," Kun mumbles, pulling the crystal from the map.

When Kun lets go, the crystal slams back into place.

"What?" Hendery asks, bouncing on the balls of his feet, "What is it?  _ Where _ is it?"

Sicheng pushes his way to the front of the table, leaning over and having a look for himself. His eyebrows furrow almost immediately before he looks up at the rest of the coven.

"They're here," is all he says.

"What? It didn't work?" Yangyang frowns, still trying to get a closer look, "I thought Donghyuck said the energy was Yukhei's boyfriend's."

"They're not  _ here _ , here," Kun mutters, pulling on the ends of his hair, "But they're nearby. Specifically, somewhere in the woods behind the house."

Sicheng looks over the map once again, fingertips trailing along the bright lime green stickers they had placed to signify where they're territory was. Where their wards were.

"They're.." Yuta trails off, looking at the crystal than back to the two stickers that show were their warding ends, "Inside our territory. They're using our wards to hide."

The younger ones immediately start talking over the top of each other as they try to ask questions. Yukhei especially.

Yuta meets Sicheng's eyes before looking up at Kun, who looked just as confused as them.

They had been here all along. The werewolf's had been right under their noses and they hadn't even realized.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapters more of a filler i guess,, nothing much happens. sicheng's making an effort to NOT be an asshole, i wonder why he wants to know what kind of accessories yuta likes....*eye emoji* some tenhyuck banter and we finally know where the wolves are! yay
> 
> you can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/ncteabag) and [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/ncteabag)


	7. big bad wolf.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Where is it?" he growls, glaring down at the cat.
> 
> Ten guffaws at him, "Where the fuck is what?"
> 
> "The ring," Johnny says, letting Yuta's neck go, "I know you have it. I know you have him."

Everyone had moved to their own corners of the library.

Chenle's found himself in Jeno's lap on the floor, the youngest witch looking exhausted. A spell that complex would drain any witch of the energy but Chenle's one of the few witches who has mastered that spell. Sicheng had tried the spell that time Yuta went missing. It had caused him to faint and Sicheng hadn't woken up until fourteen hours later.

Even Kun, despite being the strongest and oldest witch in the coven, probably wouldn't have been able to stay awake after completing such a spell.

It required a lot of focus and a lot of determination. Honestly, it was kind of surprising that Chenle had all those qualities, his much more boisterous and quirky qualities seemed to shine through his personality more.

Either way, he was holding up quite well. He hadn't fallen asleep, but he was obviously drained. Nothing coffee or an energising spell couldn't fix. Jeno being with him helped.

Everyone else, on the other hand, was standing and waiting for Kun's next decision.

The Head Witch had distanced himself from the rest of them- even Ten and Taeyong -he had begun to pace up and down the aisles of books. Muttering and rubbing his head as he thinks.

Taeyong especially looked like he wanted to reach out to his lover, but Ten had a firm grip on his sleeve and wasn't letting him move.

Yuta had a firm grip on Yukhei's hand, squeezing reassuringly every time the ghost seemed to start bouncing impatiently again. Yukhei wanted action. He wanted to find his pack and he was getting sick and tired of waiting.

Finally, after at least thirty minutes of silent waiting, Kun comes to a halt.

Everyone's eyes are on him instantaneously, all anticipating what comes next.

"Okay," Kun swallows, looking up at his coven, "Here's the plan."

Everyone blinks wordlessly at him, waiting for him to go on.

"The other witches and I will go strengthen the wards," Kun announces, looking dead at Yuta, "The familiars will go find the werewolves."

Sicheng's scowling, pushing himself off of the shelf he was leaning against, ready to protest.

"No buts, Sicheng," Kun throws him a pointed look, crossing his arms over his chest, "Our safety is my number one priority. I need all witches on deck to get this done as fast as possible. The familiars are capable of finding the werewolves on their own."

Yangyang shuffles awkwardly, "It's not finding the werewolves that's the problem. What if- what if the werewolves are hostile? Even in cat form, they can't outrun a pack of wolves," he swallows glancing nervously at Yukhei, "No offence."

"None taken," Yukhei shrugs sheepishly, hands in his pyjama pockets, "I don't know how they'll react either."

"Which is why you won't be going with them, Yukhei," Kun pipes up, chin high as he stares down the dead boy in front of him.

Yukhei almost seems to square up, but a squeeze from Yuta has him dropping his hostile stance. The boy still looks rightfully pissed off though.

He's been waiting all this time to find his pack. Find Xiaojun. And now the witch wants him to wait even longer?

"Why?" Yukhei croaks out, trying not to come across too angry with the decision the Head Witch has made.

Kun presses his lips together for a moment before responding gently, "You said it yourself. You don't know how they'll react. The last thing we want to do is freak them out. Spook them into running off again," he explains, "Hopefully Yuta can convince them to come back to the house. Somewhere safer than the border of our territory. And then we'll figure out how to tell him we- or more so Yuta, kidnapped your spirit."

"Adopted," Yukhei corrects, "I like to think of it more as Yuta adopted me."

The Head Witch cracks a smile at that, "Whatever. Yuta, I trust that you'll look after everyone?"

Yuta blinks at him in confusion.

Did he mean he was leaving Yuta in charge? Usually, Kun left Taeyong in charge.

Without clarifying, the familiar just nods quickly, giving Kun a crooked smile.

He looks at Sicheng for a brief moment, his smile becoming a bit more reassured when he catches the small almost-smirk smile Sicheng was giving him.

Clapping his hand once, Kun smiled fleetingly at the coven, "All right. Let's get to work."

 

///

 

"Yangyang was kinda right," Hendery calls as he pushes himself through the greenery, "We're no way fast enough to run from fully grown werewolves."

Ten peers back at him to make a face, throwing a bunch of leaves into his face. Yuta and Jeno barely contain their snorts when Hendery sputters and Taeyong scolds his boyfriend as if he were a misbehaving puppy.

"Werewolves might be faster, but they're also way bigger than us," Jeno chimes in, "We can get into smaller spaces."

"Oh! We can also climb trees," Ten grins cheekily, yelping when Hendery pulls at his collar and shoves a bunch of dead leaves off of the ground down his shirt.

Taeyong rolls his eyes, swatting branches out of his way as he moves away from them. He comes to stand beside Yuta, resting his chin on the back of his shoulder.

Something smells strange, but he can't place what.

The "woods" that reside behind the beach, is just dead shrubbery. All the trees are thin and bony, and all the leaves that used to stick to their branches have fallen weeks ago once the cold season had started blowing in.

This environment couldn't have made a comfortable place to hide for the werewolves.

"It smells like fire," Taeyong scrunches his nose, tilting his head to catch the corner of Yuta's eye, "Surely they're close."

"Why didn't we bring the map with us?" Ten complains draping himself over Taeyong's- therefore Yuta's -back.

Hendery snorted, swatting away whatever bug was buzzing in his ear, "Because none of us can read maps."

"I can read maps."

Every head turns to Jeno in absolute disbelief, but everyone's too done at this point to say anything.

They'd been walking in the same direction for the past twenty minutes and everyone was growing impatient. Everything looked the same, and they still hadn't come across the clearing that Kun said was nearby where the crystal had marked on the map.

But Taeyong had been right, something in the distance smelled like fire. The scent of wet leaves and dry tree branches burning. It was faint though. The fire had probably gone out during the night whilst the wolves had slept.

They walk for a few more minutes in silence, ears twitching at any sudden sounds.

Ten earns himself a glare from Taeyong when he steps down on a twig that splits with a  _ crack! _ Yuta and Hendery wince at the sound whereas Jeno simply rolls his eyes at the elder.

Finally, after walking for what felt like hours to the lazy kittens, they gain a peak of the clearing Kun had mentioned. Yuta holds out an arm to keep anyone from moving forward, peering through the gaps in the trees for any sign of danger.

He can see the dark charcoal of where the fire had been, the tiniest wisp of smoke still twirling in the air above it. He almost steps forward to venture on further but stops short when his eyes land on a lump through the bare branches.

The lump is a body. Not a human one. It's a very large wolf, lying on its stomach with its head resting atop its paws. From what Yuta can make out, it's not dead. The sound the beast makes when it snores is not quiet.

"Everybody shift," Yuta instructs with a hiss, trying to stay quiet to avoid alerting the werewolf of their presence, "Stay here unless I call, okay?"

Taeyong shifts first, not even questioning the request. Jeno follows suit. Ten clicks his tongue, giving Yuta a look that said ' _ I hope you know what you're doing _ '. Hendery was the most hesitate, his eyes skipping back and forth while nervously wringing his hands, but he shifts without any voiced objections.

Yuta smiles at them quickly before shifting himself, his little kitten tail wiggling behind him as he darts out through the trees.

The wolves ears twitched when he got closer, but it didn't make an effort to move. It seemed fast asleep, and if it weren't for the obviously man-made fire in front of it, Yuta would've almost considered that the wolf was just a plain old wolf.

Yuta wasn't quite sure how to safely wake it up without startling it and possibly being swallowed whole. His tail waved behind him as he circled the wolf, leaning close to sniff it. It smelled familiar but he couldn't figure it out.

The wolf kind of smelled like candle wax, specifically mint and lavender candle wax. Kind of like the candles that Taeil kept in his bedroom.

Wait.

Yuta backed away to get a better look at the wolf, only to be met with wide blinking eyes.

He wants to turn and run but before he can blink, a big snout pokes his chest and flips him over onto his back.

He meows pathetically at being manhandled, paws up in the air to latch onto the nose of the big wolf pressing its nose into his stomach.

The wolf is smelling him, he realises after a moment whilst he waits for the wolf to move again. The nose of the beast sniffs over his stomach before his neck and then to his forehead. After it seems to finish analysing him, the wolf sits back on its hind legs.

It sticks it's tongue out and yips at him, shaking out its fur.

Yuta watches in fascination as the werewolf shifts in front of him, bones snapping and muscles twisting.

A fluffy-haired boy stares back at him, wearing a ratty pair of sweatpants and a familiar purple sweater that Yuta had seen many times. Many times on Doyoung.

"You smell like them," the werewolf says, pushing golden hair out of his eyes.

He doesn't get to elaborate. The snapping of twigs makes both of them tense up. The boy's necks snap in the direction the sound coming from, alerted.

A massive wolf pushes into the clearing, Ten hanging from its jaws by the collar. Ten meows helplessly, paws swatting in the air. Two other wolves follow, but neither appear to have any more of their friends.

Yuta stands himself upright on his four paws, hissing at the big black wolf.

"Johnny," the boy behind him calls, "Why have you got a cat in your mouth?"

The wolf on the biggest ones left shifts, bones cracking and snapping as it takes its human form. Yuta recognises him as Jaehyun, one of the wolves from the house.

The man stretches out his shoulders, cracking his neck, "Why have you got one standing between your legs?"

Yuta hisses again, tail curling around the boy's calf.

"Look at this," Jaehyun scoops Ten up from the wolves mouth, pulling at the cat's collar, "There are spell runes scratched into its collar."

With no regard for Yuta, the boy moves to get a closer look.

Yuta catches Hendery's anxious eyes from one of the branches of the trees, watching the entire exchange.

Ten struggles free, claws catching on Jungwoo's wrist as he falls. The grey cat bolts to get to Yuta, their tails brushing as they stand closer together. Neither of them is too keen on shifting into their human forms just yet.

"Familiars," the boy's lips are parted in awe, "They belong to witches."

The other two werewolves shift. Unsurprisingly Johnny had been the biggest wolf out of the lot of them. The smallest was Xiaojun.

Ten attempts to make a dash back into the shrubbery, but Jaehyun's caught up to him before he could even get close. Jaehyun attempts to pick him up again but before he can, Ten shifts, pushing the man away from him with a snarl on his face.

"Get the fuck off of me, pretty boy," he snarls, swatting Jaehyun's arms away from him.

Yuta almost does the same, but a hand coming to rest around his throat keeps him from moving. His head snaps to the culprit. It's Johnny with his fingers around his throat, touching the spot where his collar had sat.

"Where is it?" he growls, glaring down at the cat.

Ten guffaws at him, "Where the fuck is what?"

The obvious alpha looked up to glare at Ten.

The boy from before nudges Johnny, "Johnny, let Yuta go."

Yuta freezes in Johnny's hold, eyes wide as he stares at the boy. He knew it. It had to be him.

That had to be Jungwoo.

"The ring," Johnny says, letting Yuta's neck go, "I know you have it. I know you have  _ him _ ."

Jaehyun turns away from Ten, arms crossed, "John... what are you talking about?"

"The cat I saw," Johnny explained, "As we were leaving I saw it. It had Yukhei's ring hanging from its collar. So  _ where is it _ ?"

"There's more of them," Xiaojun interrupts, arms crossed against his chest, watching the treeline.

Surely enough, the other three familiars are emerging from the trees. Jeno and Hendery seemingly following Taeyong's lead. The eldest shifts first, a harsh line between his brows as he glares at the four werewolves in his presence.

Yuta notices the way Johnny's throat bobbles up and down nervously at the sight of them. The five of them outnumbered the four werewolves. The alpha wasn't sure what the group of familiars were capable of; without their witches, it wasn't much, but he didn't know that.

"Lay a hand on either of them again and I will sever your right leg," Taeyong threatens, although the threat was completely empty.

Johnny steps back slightly at the protective tone whereas Jungwoo steps forward. The man bends down onto his knees to look into Yuta's eyes, hand reaching out.

"Yuta?" he asks quietly, "You  _ are  _ Yuta right? Taeil and Doyoung's friend?"

Abruptly, Yuta shifts, figure emerging from the dark smog. It startles Jungwoo so bad that he falls onto his ass, eyes wide and lips parted.

Hendery and Jeno join the elders in human form, they all come to stand closer together in a protective huddle. Ten immediately latches himself to Taeyong's side, the elder of the two rubbing the skin around Ten's collar from where he got picked up. Hendery's grabs onto Yuta's sleeve in an attempt to pull him further away from the werewolf pack, but Yuta does not budge.

"I am," he replies, smiling weakly at Jungwoo, "I'm Yuta."

Jungwoo stands, lips stretching into a smile as he giggles. The werewolf reaches out and grabs Yuta by the arm, pulling him into a hug so tight that both the werewolves and the familiars rear up, ready to fight if one hurt one or the other.

"They said I could trust you," Jungwoo whispers into the shoulder of Yuta's hoodie, "They said that if there were trouble that I should come here. That I'd be safe."

Yuta frowns, pulling away from Jungwoo slightly to look him in the eyes.

As far as he remembered, he had never disclosed the warding's location to either Doyoung or Taeil. Neither of them knew the extent of the coven's territory or where the warding marks should even be.

"We tried to find your house," Jungwoo pouts slightly, "We couldn't go any further. Every time we tried we all got too scared."

"I was  _ not  _ scared," Johnny huffs.

"Yes, you were."

"Shut up, Jaehyun," the big bad alpha crosses his arms and pouts like a child.

This makes more sense to Yuta.

The wards were aware that the werewolves meant no harm to the coven, therefore let them enter further than most would be able to, but they wouldn't let them get close enough to the coven's actual living quarters just in case.

Thus, the werewolves were allowed refuge but they had never found the witches.

It wasn't surprising that the coven hadn't found the werewolves right in their backyard. The witches only came out this far if they needed firewood. No magical ingredients grew out here so there was no point in coming out here that often.

All of them preferred long walks on the beach rather than long walks into tree branches and mud.

"Doyoung and Taeil... are they okay?" Jungwoo asks, hands holding Yuta's sleeves tightening.

Yuta smiles gently, "They're okay. They're worried about you. And they miss you."

The werewolf's cheeks tinged a pretty pink, a shy grin creeping up onto his face.

The big bad alpha boy stepped forward, and instinctively Yuta stepped back. Jungwoo let Yuta's arms fall back to his side but not without giving Johnny the biggest eye roll he had ever seen.

"The ring," Johnny says, open his palm, "I want it."

Yuta's facial expression hardens, "I don't have it."

Johnny's stance gets more hostile. He squares his shoulders and he stands over Yuta like an angry bear. Despite the intimidating height difference, Yuta doesn't back down on the staring contest.

Yuta loses when he catches sight of Xiaojun shuffling himself closer, looking small and sad.

"Do you know where  _ he _ -" he pauses to catch himself, " _ It _ is?"

He can feel his heart drop in his chest when Xiaojun looks up with glistening tears welling up in his eyes.

"He's safe," is what he says, trying to smile reassuringly at the boy, "He misses you," he adds.

Xiaojun flinches almost at his words. He folds in on himself some more. In an attempt to help calm Xiaojun's raging emotions, he's seemed to have done quite the opposite.

Taeyong moves to stand beside Yuta, head held high, "We'll take you all to him," he says, "But only if you don't put another hand on any of us."

"Especially Yuta," Ten snorts, "Man, Sicheng will slaughter you."

Yuta's eyebrows furrow in confusion. He glances back at Ten with a frown, only to receive a shrug in turn.

"Dude if anyone's going to get murdered it's gonna be big boy over here," Hendery pipes up, pointing both of his fingers at Johnny, "He had you in his  _ mouth, _ Ten. Kun is going to lose it."

Taeyong winces, "Nobody's going to tell Sicheng  _ or  _ Kun. We're already housing one dead werewolf. I refuse to house another."

The way that Xiaojun looks at the floor and Jaehyun glares at him, Taeyong backtracks with a sheepish look on his face.

"Sorry- too soon," he rubs the back of his neck awkwardly.

Within a heartbeat, Taeyong's back in cat form. Ten, Hendery and Jeno follow his lead. The four of them wander back into the trees, leaves crunching under their paws.

Yuta goes to join them, but a hand clutching his sleeve stops him.

He looks back to meet Johnny's eyes. They're filled with less hate and distrust and more with remorse and apology.

He swallows before speaking, "Are we actually going to be able to see him? Like see him- _ see him _ ?"

The other three werewolves behind their alpha all look at him, obviously hopeful.

"You'll even be able to touch him," he tells them, watching Xiaojun in particular.

Visibly, all of the werewolves light up, Xiaojun more than anyone. He lifts his head and he smiles without looking at anything in particular. The harsh line between his brows has smoothed out and his eyes are sparkling with something other than sadness.

It makes a part of Yuta's heart soar.

Without another word, Yuta shifts. He sits and waits and watches as the werewolves all do the same; they're shifting process more difficult and time-consuming than that of a familiar's.

Together, all five familiars and all four werewolves made their way in the direction of the coven's house, looking like a super dysfunctional pack as they go.

 

///

 

There's a nervous thundering in his chest as he squeezes himself through the open gap in the doorway.

Taeyong and Ten were at the head of the herd, and have already scampered off further into the house; most likely on their way to find their Head Witch. Jeno and Hendery follow Yuta inside, sticking by him as they all watch Johnny nudge the door open further with his snout, padding in on his paws with the rest of his pack not far behind.

The first witch they run into is Chenle, who's clocked out on the couch. It only takes Jeno a second to make the decision to shift, immediately lifting the youngest witch's head so he can squeeze onto the couch and rest his witch's head on his lap.

Yuta hops onto the arm of the couch, gaining height to watch the wolves from a better perspective. The four sit, eyes all wandering around the witch's abode. The only one with their tail wagging is Jungwoo.

Yangyang comes out of the kitchen, dirt smeared on his face. His jaw drops at the sight of the four wolves sitting in their living room. When Hendery's tail curls around his leg, he regains his senses. He leans down to pick up Hendery and kiss him right on the forehead, fingers curling in his fur.

With one last curious and spooked look at the werewolves, he turns on his heels and leaves with Hendery still scooped up in his arms.

They all sit there quietly for a few minutes. Jeno's hands aimlessly running through Chenle's hair, murmuring something every time the boy in his lap seems to stir. Yuta would have laughed if he were in human form when Jaehyun's wolf sniffs curiously at the sleeping boy and Jeno almost wacks him on the nose with a glare on his face.

"Alright," Kun announces himself, emerging from the hallway with Ten and Taeyong both flanking his sides in human form.

Donghyuck trials in behind them, having to knock past Ten to get through the doorway seeing as the trio couldn't keep their hands off of each other. Ten sticks his tongue out at the witch and Donghyuck flips him off, crossing his arms as he leans against the nearest wall.

"Taeyong told me everything," the Head Witch says, a neutral expression on his face.

Judging by the not-at-all angry expression on Kun's face, Yuta would assume that Taeyong hadn't told him  _ everything _ . If he had included the part where Ten was in the jaws of a werewolf or that a werewolf had his hand around Yuta's neck, Kun probably wouldn't have been so calm.

Yuta leaps off of the couch and bursts into smog as he shifts, stretching his limbs as he stands up tall.

"You will stay here tonight," Kun says with no room for objection, "Tomorrow we will discuss your hunter problem, and then we will discuss what we will do with you."

The bones snapping and muscles squeezing as the werewolves shift make every one flinch. Xiaojun stands first, eyes still darting around the room.

"When can we see Yukhei?" he asks, wringing his hands.

Kun gives the boy a close-lipped smile, "He's in the library. Yuta can take you to him if you like."

Xiaojun looks startled at the suggestion, his glancing at Yuta before back at the Head Witch. Johnny places a reassuring hand on his beta's shoulder, giving him a small smile to tell him that it's okay. That he can trust Yuta.

Biting down on his lip, Xiaojun nods. Yuta gestures with his head to follow him, already slowly making his way toward the hallway. Xiaojun closely follows, eyes constantly darting from every painting on the wall to a to flower vase, suspicious of anything and everything in the coven's lair.

When they make it to the doorway of the library, Yuta halts, startled by the fact that Sicheng was inside also.

Both he and Yukhei were huddled over one of the many various tables in the library, flipping through and reading through some book at a rapid rate.

The sound of Xiaojun's shoes screeching to a halt on the hardwood floor snaps them out of their concentration. Sicheng slams the book shut, spinning on his heel, eyes blown wide like he had been caught red-handed.

Yuta's more concerned with the reaction of Yukhei though.

When he turns, his eyes go comically wide that Yuta almost laughs, but the emotion that wells up inside them makes his heart clench fondly.

" _ Xiaojun _ ," Yukhei breathes.

He looks like he's got the wind knocked out of him. He swallows whatever has built up in his throat and is about to speak again when Xiaojun lurches forward. His arms circled around Yukhei's waist and he buries his head in the dead boy's chest.

He can hear the way Xiaojun sobs into Yukhei's shirt, and suddenly Yuta feels like he's witnessing something private.

Quietly, trying to avoid being noticed, he makes his way over to Sicheng, whose leaning again the table, watching the two boys interact.

Yuta notices dirt smeared on his cheek, probably from reinforcing the wards. Suddenly, the two boys behind him fade into background noise as he pulls his sleeve over his hand to wipe away the grime on his witch's face.

Sicheng flinches when they touch, eyes flickering to Yuta, watching him as he does his task. When Yuta looks up to meet Sicheng's eyes, his heart stutters in his chest so suddenly that he almost chokes.

He turns away from him to watch the interaction between the werewolf and ghost, wincing when his eyes settling on the way Yukhei places a lingering kiss on the corner of Xiaojun's lips.

Sicheng and he truly are intruding on a private moment.

"We should go," Sicheng murmurs into the hair behind Yuta's ear.

Yuta swallows roughly at the feeling of Sicheng's lips brushing against his hair.

He nods wordlessly, avoiding all possible eye contact.

Sicheng picks up the book that he had been reading, carefully shoving it back into it's rightful spot on the shelf.

Yuta's eyebrows furrow at the words written on the spine of the book, ignoring that Sicheng had moved passed him.

"You coming?" Sicheng whispers, catching his eyes momentarily.

Yuta startles, nodding with an almost plastic close-lipped smile on his face.

His eyes dart back toward the title of the book one last time. The title lingering in his thoughts as he leaves.

_ A Guide to Necromancy. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is dedicated to my friend and avid supporter nari, whose currently in hospital :( i hope you're okay and recovering, baby. when you're better i hope this update cheers you up. i love you!
> 
> what did you guys think of this update? there'll be a lot more yuwin next update i assure you.
> 
> you can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/ncteabag) and [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/ncteabag)


	8. don't you dare leave me.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Don't do it," Yuta pleads, flinching away from the physical contact, "I don't know what you're doing but don't do it."
> 
> Sicheng takes a step forward and Yuta takes a step back.
> 
> "Yuta-"
> 
> "Don't go."

When Yuta returns to the living room with Sicheng by his side, he's met with an antsy Donghyuck. He expects Donghyuck to be looking to talk to him, so he's surprised when the young witch pulls Sicheng off to the side instead.

He side-eyes them as they talked in hush whispers, but he doesn't have a chance to watch them for long.

Kun is beckoning him over with a wave of his hand. The Head Witch and his two lovers are settled at the dining table, hands being held by one or the other as usual. The three remaining werewolves have also sat themselves down around the table, Johnny and Jaehyun's posture straight with their heads held high like they were trying to prove they weren't to be messed with.

Jungwoo's posture was more relaxed, he'd partially sunken into his seat and he had a friendly smile on his face. He hadn't known them for five minutes and he already had decided to trust them.

Whatever Taeil and Doyoung had mentioned to him about Yuta and the coven must have been enough for him to trust them so easily.

"Four werewolves is quite small for a park," Kun says curiously, head tilted to the side as he watched Johnny's every reaction, "Are there more of you out there?"

Johnny looks agitated at the remark. Yuta watches Jaehyun's hand slip into the alpha's lap, his fingers interlocking with Johnny's to give a squeeze.

"Five," Johnny replies, a frustrated clench to his jaw as he glares down at the table, "Yukhei makes five."

"Yes well, Yukhei is-" Kun breaks off and swallows the lump in his throat, "Five. Yes of course."

It's obvious that Kun wants to say ' _but Yukhei is dead_ ' but holds back in case of incidentally causing the werewolf to get worked up and start a fight.

"That's quite a small pack," Kun repeats his words from before, slowly and carefully, "Are there more of you that we don't know about?"

There's a sound of the scuffle of shoes, and Yuta glances up from the exchange. He watches Sicheng make his way over to take his place across from Yuta at the dining table, but his eyes quickly flicker back to Donghyuck, who has quietly slide back out of the room.

Something's up, and Yuta's not quite sure what.

The way Sicheng and Donghyuck were acting made the hair on the back of his neck stand on edge. The way Sicheng had been in the library looking at that book.

 _That book_.

He swallows roughly, eyebrows furrowed as his eyes dart back to Sicheng. His witch turns to look at him, his lips twitch in the tiniest of smiles that Yuta cannot bring himself to return.

 _Oh boy_ , _Sicheng, what are you doing?_

With his lips pressed tightly together, he turns his focus back on the werewolves, ignoring the confused look Sicheng sends him when he doesn't return his smile, the thoughts in the back of his mind itching for answers that he was too afraid to ask for.

"No," Jaehyun answers, "There aren't any more of us."

A funny look takes over Kun's face.

"Okay," he says, clearly not completely buying it, "Why are there hunters after you?"

"I don't know," is the alpha's pathetic reply.

With his lips pursed, Kun unclasps hands with his two lovers, folding them on top of the table and that's how Yuta knows that Kun's starting to get frustrated. The confused and disbelieving expression has Kun's face turns into one of annoyance.

"Did you kill somebody?" Kun asks, leaning forward in his chair, head tilted to the side.

Despite his slightly shorter stature, the Head Witch was scary when he was angry. Though Ten and Taeyong both seemed to be enjoying the way his jaw was clenched and his muscles were tensed.

Taeyong was watching him with his eyes blown wide and glassy, hands curling in the fabric of his sweater sleeves, whereas Ten had his teeth tugging on his bottom lip to hold back a lewd smirk.

Yuta almost gagged.

Johnny shrunk back in his seat at the look he was being given, " _No_ ," he replies, like a child being scolded, eyes downcast, "We just woke up and the house was on fire."

Kun turned to Sicheng, obviously looking for his friend's option. Sicheng simply quirked his eyebrow and shrugged. With an exasperated sigh and a roll of his eyes, his chair screeched as he got up.

"Yuta," their eyes met, "Come with me."

He nods quietly, standing from the table as well, throwing the werewolves one last glance before following Kun into the hallway and towards the Head Witch's room. Ten and Taeyong trailing behind them like baby ducklings even though they hadn't been invited to come along.

Ten and Taeyong situate themselves down on the bed, hands folded in their laps. He stays standing, watching Kun's every move.

Kun clicked the bedroom door closed, turning on his heel to look Yuta in the eyes.

He looks exhausted, Yuta realizes, reinforcing the wards would've taken a lot out of all of the witches, but him especially. The bags Kun had already had under his eyes seemed to have deepened within the few hours they were gone. He looked stressed and tired.

"Can you contact the vampires for me?" he asks, rubbing his face, "I need to lie down."

Yuta nods quickly, "Of course."

Kun gives him a half-smile, walking around him and sitting down on the end of his bed. He pushes Ten's hands away when he reaches out to him, and it's hard to ignore the way Ten's facial expression crumbs at the rejection. He curls back into Taeyong's chest with an upset pout on his face, hands reaching behind him to hold onto the fabric of Taeyong's sweater.

"Ten, Taeyong," Kun glances up from where he had been staring at the floorboards to look at his lovers, the both of them perking up, "Can you please go set up some blankets and pillows in the library? Let them have a rest there, they all look exhausted."

Yuta's heart clenches at the way both of his friends' shoulders drop.

Both of them leave without any objection. Taeyong looks at Kun sadly as he shuts the door behind him.

"Yuta."

He glances back at the Head Witch with a questioning look.

"I want to trust them because I trust you," Kun says, biting the inside of his cheek before talking again, "And I know you trust Taeil and Doyoung but-"

"You can't help but feel like they're hiding something?"

Kun grimaces, but nods.

"I want to help them, I do," he sighs, "But if they could potentially put our coven in danger... I can't keep them here."

"I know," Yuta replies, smiling sadly, "I understand."

"Oh, and Yuta?"

"Hmm?"

"Can you tell Ten and Taeyong that I love them and that I’m sorry for being a bastard?"

Yuta smiles a little brighter, "Of course I can."

Kun smiles back gratefully. And with that, Yuta excuses himself and heads to the library.

He spots Jeno tucking Chenle into his bed as he passes by their room. Yangyang and Hendery spooning in their own respective bed across from them. There's no Donghyuck to be seen.

Strange.

He doesn't pay it much mind though, too busy thinking about sending word to Taeil and the rest of the vampire's that they had found not only Jungwoo but the rest of the pack.

Yuta smiles in joy at the sight of Xiaojun curled up in Yukhei's lap in front of the fireplace. The two of them talking quietly with one another. The way Yukhei's lips are always pointed upwards while he listens to Xiaojun speak makes Yuta's insides warm fondly. Yukhei doesn't take his eyes off of him for even a second.

Jaehyun's seemed to coax Johnny to sleep. Both of them are lying on the floor, situated in a little nest of blankets that Taeyong and Ten had helped set up. Jaehyun's got one arm wrapped around Johnny's back and another holding the side of his face, holding him against his chest. By the looks of it, Johnny's already drifted off to sleep, lips parted and drooling slightly.

Jaehyun though is still awake. He spots Yuta entering the room and smiles at him gratefully. Yuta doesn't hesitate to return it.

It takes Yuta a minute to spot Jungwoo amidst all of the bookshelves. He's running his fingers along the spines of books aimlessly, curiously looking at the title of every single book he comes across by. When he spots Yuta, his lips quirk up and his eyes widen.

"Yuta!" he greets, shaking his head like a puppy to get his fringe out of his eyes, "Hello! Can I talk to you?"

Yuta lets himself be dragged by the arm further among the shelves, only stopping when Jungwoo comes across a shelve of books that he deems interesting.

Jungwoo seems to realize that he's gotten distracted and quickly turns back to Yuta, "Oh! Right. I was wondering if it was possible for me to talk to Taeil and Doyoung?"

"Actually-"

"It's no rush! I just miss them. Sorry," Jungwoo apologizes, pressing his lips together, "I'm being rude."

"You're not being rude," Yuta assures him, squeezing Jungwoo's arm, "I promise. They miss you too."

Jungwoo smiles at the floor, his ears flaming red.

"I'm about to go get in contact with them. Okay? I'll let you know when I've spoken to them."

"Thank you."

"No worries, Jungwoo," Yuta chuckles.

"Oh!" Jungwoo bounces, "Can I read any of these?" he asks, gesturing to the various books scattered throughout the room.

"You sure can," Yuta replies, laughing slightly, "Just don't try to summon any demons okay?"

"Okay!"

They exchange one last smile before Yuta weaves his way from out of the bookshelves.

He spots Xiaojun setting up a pillow and a blanket, probably set on having a nap. Yuta takes the opportunity to talk to Yukhei quickly before he goes and finds Ten and Taeyong.

Yukhei grins up at Yuta from his place next to the fireplace, and Yuta can hold back the gigantic smile that overcomes his own face. It dims slightly in confusion when he notices something odd about the charm that was still hanging around Yukhei's neck.

"Hey," Yukhei giggles.

Yuta looks up at him and tries to fix the smile on his face to keep Yukhei from question him. His eyes can't help but dart to the charm once more to make sure what he was seeing was real.

"Hi," Yuta smiles weakly, "Have you told him yet?"

Yukhei's eyes widen and he flushes, "No- No. Not yet. I… I'm scared."

The dead boy turns his head in Xiaojun's direction, eyes fond and Yuta feels his heart squeeze painfully in his chest.

"You should tell him," Yuta says, "Soon."

He watches as Yukhei's eyebrows furrow at the stressed tone in Yuta's voice.

"I will," Yukhei promises, turning back to him with a confused look, "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," he lies pathetically.

It's obvious that Yukhei doesn't believe him, but Yuta doesn't give him a chance to ask any more questions anyway.

He excuses himself and flees as quickly as he can, trying not to look as panicked as he feels.

He stops short when he notices Sicheng. His witch is at the same bookshelf from before, pulling out a book. _The_ book. The same one from earlier. Yuta starts to put two and two together. Yukhei's eroding charm and Sicheng's book on necromancy.

He has an idea of what Sicheng's planning to do, and it makes bile rise in Yuta's throat.

 

///

 

"Did you notice?"

Ten lifts his head from Taeyong's shoulder. He had been back-hugging his boyfriend while Taeyong made sandwiches.

Yuta hadn't wanted to barge in on such a sweet serene and intimate moment for them, but his head was pounding and his chest felt tight. He needed to talk.

"Notice what?" Ten asks quietly, a pout on his face.

Yuta runs a hand through his hair, pulling on the ends in frustration, "Yukhei's charm. It's wearing off."

The knife in Taeyong's hand clutters against the kitchen counter. Both of them have turned to look at him properly now. Both of them looking just as concerned as he felt.

"Already?" Taeyong questions.

Yuta nods, his eyes stinging.

Those charms that keep a ghost in the physical plane don't last long but they usually last longer than this. Within the next few days, Yukhei would be practically invisible to most people's eyes.

Yuta's heart didn't hurt for himself, for he was one of the many creatures who could see the dead. His heart hurt for the pack. His heart hurt for Xiaojun and his heart hurt for Yukhei, who soon would never be able to hold anyone close to him ever again.

"I think Sicheng knows," Yuta chokes out, holding back his tears of frustration, "I think he knows and I think he's going to do something stupid."

A look of realization takes over Taeyong's face. He looks behind him at the lunch he was making, all tied up in a brown paper bag.

"Hey, Taeyong."

Yuta startles, swivelling on his feet at the sound of Sicheng's voice. The witch saunters into the kitchen, stilling when he comes face to face with Yuta.

"Oh," Sicheng says dumbly, "Yuta."

"Hi," Yuta replies, mouth suddenly going dry, "You going somewhere?"

His witch blinks down at him, "I am."

Sicheng maneuvers past him to take a hold of the bag Taeyong had made up for him.

"Where?" Yuta asks, trying not to sound too irritated.

Sicheng looks surprised by Yuta's sudden interrogation, "Kun needs me to grab some ingredients for something."

Yuta knows straight off of the bat that it's a lie.

Yuta wants to believe him. He wants to believe him _so badly_.

But he _knows_ whatever Sicheng's planning on doing isn't safe. He knows that Sicheng's going to do something stupid enough that it could put him in danger.

So when Sicheng walks out of the kitchen, Yuta follows him, determined on doing or saying _something_ that keeps him from doing whatever stupid thing he's planning to do.

The pays him no mind, packing a backpack with his back turned to him. It makes Yuta grow increasingly more and more frustrated.

"Sicheng?"

His witch hums, glancing up at him as he zips up his bag, contents hidden inside. Yuta wishes so badly that he knew what he was hiding in there.

"I saw the book," he says, clenching and unclenching his fists at his sides nervously, "I don't know exactly what you're going to do but I have a faint idea-"

Sicheng stands up and takes a hold of one of his hands, squeezing it.

"Don't do it," Yuta pleads, flinching away from the physical contact, "I don't know what you're doing but _don't do it_."

Sicheng takes a step forward and Yuta takes a step back.

"Yuta-"

"Don't go."

He watches Sicheng's throat bobble up and down and then he meets his eyes. Yuta hates what he finds in them. He can see the determined and stubborn look in his eye and Yuta knows there's no chance that he's going to change the witch's mind.

The next time Sicheng steps forward, Yuta stands his ground. He keeps his arms close to his chest and his eyes on the floor but he doesn't flinch away.

"Whatever you're planning on doing," Yuta says, trying to hide the waver in his voice when he feels Sicheng's fingertips run up his arm, "It's not worth it."

"It is," Sicheng replies, his fingers curling around the side of Yuta's neck.

Yuta wants to draw back when he feels Sicheng's lips tickle his temple, but he finds himself leaning into it.

His heart is stammering and his breathing is uneven. He's suddenly unable to tell the difference between his frustration from his deep affection for the man holding him.

Yuta pulls back, leaning his head into Sicheng's shoulder and shielding his face from him. His hands curl into the fabric of Sicheng's shirt to stop them from shaking as he takes deep breaths to calm his breathing and his rapid train of thought.

"You can't keep doing this," he whispers, his lungs squeezing and his throat tight as he speaks, "You can't keep doing things like this and expect it to make everything okay."

Sicheng's body tenses up, and his fingertips dig a bit further into the skin of Yuta's neck.

"I don't understand what you're trying to do," Yuta scowls into Sicheng's shoulder but won't look up to look him in the eye, afraid he'll cower away like he always does, "You used to be so cold to me and now- and now I don't even know what you're doing. You can't keep doing this. You can't just hold me and touch me and hope that makes everything okay."

Sicheng doesn't say anything.

"Whatever stupid shit you think you're about to do?" Yuta starts up again, voice rising as he gets more frustrated, "Don't _fucking_ do it."

When Yuta swallows, it does nothing to ease the large lump that has formed in his throat.

He had never dared to speak like this to Sicheng before.

"If something happened to me-"

" _What-"_

Sicheng's other hand takes hold of his waist, "If something happened to me-" he repeats, "I'd want someone to bring me home to you."

Yuta draws away from him, a confused look on his face.

Those words sounded familiar. They were _his_ words, a different version of them but they were words he had said nonetheless. Yuta hadn't been aware that Sicheng had overheard that conversation between him and Kun.

"I have to go now," Sicheng says, voice quieter, gentler.

Yuta shakes his head, "No. What is that supposed to mean?"

Silence.

“You want to come home to the coven? Or what? Do you want to come home to _me?_ ” Yuta whispers, his voice shaking, “ _Sicheng_ ,” he begs for a straight answer.

When Sicheng's eyes meet his, what stares back at him reminds him of something. The way Kun looks at Taeyong and Ten. The way Yukhei looks at Xiaojun.

Yuta's heart sinks rather than soars.

"Don't go," Yuta begs one more time, softly and pathetically, hands still loosely holding onto Sicheng's shirt.

"I'll be back," Sicheng promises.

He tries to move past Yuta but the familiar won't let him.

Sicheng squeezes his eyes shut with his lips pressed in a thin line, his resolve suddenly crumbling before him.

Yuta expects him to relent. Or to push him away.

He doesn't expect Sicheng to curl both of his hands around his neck, fingertips tickling the skin along the side of Yuta's throat.

When Sicheng opens his eyes, Yuta notices the way his pupils nervously shake. He's pulled his bottom lip between his teeth as he stares down at him, and it makes Yuta's mouth go dry.

Yuta doesn't know when or how their heads lean closer, he just knows he can feel Sicheng's forehead resting against his and he can feel his breath dusting along his cheekbones.

With his heart in his throat, he pushes that bit closer, the soft lips of his witch touching his own.

Warmth floods his system, he can feel it in his legs all the way to his fingertips. His insides feel like they're vibrating and his ears are ringing but all he cares about is the way Sicheng's hands tighten around his jaw and his lips press impossibly closer and _harder._

Sicheng licks into his mouth but rears back a moment later, but Yuta chases him, tugging on his shirt to pull him back down for another kiss, Sicheng indulges him for a moment.

When Sicheng pulls away for the second time, Yuta's on his tippy-toes aching to get him to come back. This time though, his attempts are unsuccessful.

Both of their breaths shake with adrenaline and Yuta’s heart yearns to feel that high again.

For a moment, Yuta thinks he's won. That Sicheng's going to listen to him.

"I'll be back," Sicheng reiterates his promise, his eyes apologetic as he brushes hair out of Yuta's eyes.

All the warmth that buzzed through his veins dies instantaneously.

When Sicheng moves past him and out the door, Yuta can't even bring himself to watch him leave.

His eyes are downcast at the floor and his heart is squeezing painfully in his chest. He feels confused. He feels defeated.

“I’ll be back,” Sicheng says for the last time.

 _Yeah_ , Yuta thinks, _you better be._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i thought i was gonna have the vampires appear in this chapter but OOP i guess they'll be in the next one, my bad. nothing ever goes as planned when i write lol.
> 
> yukhei's charm is starting to decay, sicheng and donghyuck are doing something suspicious annnnnnnnd yuwin kiss scene.....how we feeling?
> 
> you can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/ncteabag) and [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/ncteabag)


	9. pentagrams & poison.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a knock at the bedroom door, halting the conversation. When Kun calls for them to come in, Hendery pokes his head through the door.
> 
> "The vampires are here," he says, shaking the hair out of his eyes.
> 
> Yuta's thrown by the use of the plural, "How many of them?"
> 
> Hendery shrugs, "All of them, I think."

It's not long until Ten finds him, staring into space with eyes looking like glass.

Ten's hands are cold, the complete opposite of Sicheng's warm and electric touch. They're only cold enough to make him shiver though, not to jolt him out of his daze.

His friend pulls him down onto the bed. He's saying something. Asking questions that Yuta can't hear. Everything sounds muffled, distant. Ten sounds concerned, and that's about all he can register.

God, his head hurts.

Ten has to dig his nails into the skin on Yuta's forearm to get him to even blink.

"Hm?" Yuta barely turns his head to look at him.

His friend gapes at him critically, biting down gently on his bottom lip as he observes the man before him. Yuta can painfully feel the way Ten's eyes are scanning his face. Searching wet, shaking eyes and trailing down to the dried tear stains on his cheeks. Ten's eyes meet Yuta's slightly but still noticeably swollen lips and freezes in his spot.

His eyes barely get any wider but Yuta catches it, the same way he catches it when the fingers on his arm stop rubbing comforting circles on his skin.

"What happened?"

He already knows what happened. Not all of it but he  _ knows. _

Yuta swallows.

He doesn't want to talk about it. He doesn't want to talk about how Sicheng and him fought. He doesn't want to talk about how Sicheng kissed him and ran away immediately after. He doesn't want to talk about it and he wishes Ten didn't know anything. He wishes Ten hadn't seen him like this.

"I need to get in contact with Taeil."

"Yuta..."

"And I need to talk to Kun."

Ten sighs, squeezing his arm again.

"I'm gonna get Donghyuck to contact Taeil," Ten says, "And Kun's in the bath, relaxing... but you can see him afterwards."

Yuta frowns, "What am I supposed to do until then? Sit around and be useless? Sicheng's about to do something stupid, I don't have time to just-" somewhere throughout his sentence he begins to cry again, " _ I don't know what to do.  _ I don't know what  _ he's _ going to do."

Ten wipes Yuta's tears away with his thumbs before holding onto his hand, his fingers curling around Yuta's palm.

"We'll figure it out," Ten promises him, tugging on his hand as he stands from the bed, "For now, you're coming with me. You, me, Taeyong, cuddles. Right now."

He knows there's no point in objecting. Ten's just as stubborn as Sicheng, if not more-so.

Donghyuck once said  _ 'Of course they're stubborn. You and Taeyong too. It's the water sign in all of you,'  _ but Yuta had never really understood much about astrology in the first place.

So he lets Ten drag him from his bedroom, all the way back down the hall into the Head Witch's room. Taeyong's already curled up with a fluffy circular pillow tucked to his chest, eyes droopy and glossy. He hums, his lips stretching into a thin smile when he sees Ten enter, his eyes fond and full of love. As soon as Ten touches the bed, Taeyong all but throws the pillow onto the floor, making grabby hands like a baby.

Ten pulls Yuta closer by the tight grip on his hand, gesturing with a flick of his head for Yuta to climb onto the bed. He nibbles on the insides of his cheeks before complying, relieved to see the lack of disappointment in Taeyong's eyes when he settles down beside him.

"Where are you going?" Taeyong slurs out sleepily when Ten tries to slide back out of the room.

Ten smiles at him sweetly, "Just going to talk to Donghyuck for a sec. I'll be back in a moment, baby."

Taeyong hums in acknowledgement. He settles one of his arms over Yuta's stomach, fingers bunching in the side of his shirt as he pulls the younger closer.

"You okay?" Taeyong asks into Yuta's hair.

Yuta adjusts his position in Taeyong's hold so he can see his friend's face. It doesn't take Taeyong long to notice the red rims of Yuta's eyes.

"Oh, baby," Taeyong pouts, tucking strands of Yuta's hair behind his ear, "What happened?"

Ten tip-toes back into the room, sidling up at Yuta's back, putting his arm over Taeyong's so he can feel his lover's touch.

"We fought," Yuta says lamely, knowing that the both of them probably heard all the yelling earlier, "I begged him not to do whatever he was planning on doing and he still left."

He catches the look Taeyong throws Ten. Both of his friends were very aware that there was a detail missing. They already had a hunch, Yuta could see it in their eyes, but he didn't want to confirm their thoughts.

"He kissed you, didn't he?" Ten asks, the hand on his back stilling.

Yuta wants to throw up.

The arms around him stop feeling safe and instead start to feel suffocating as he recalls the moment between his witch and himself from a mere hour ago.

His lack of a response is an obvious answer to the two men holding him.

"Did he tell you what he was doing?" Taeyong changes the subject slightly, and the anxious feeling fluttering in Yuta's chest grows weaker.

Yuta shakes his head, "No. I have a theory," he sighs, shifting his head to nuzzle into the side of Taeyong's neck, "He has a book on necromancy," he hears Ten's breath hitch, "I think he wants to bring Yukhei back to life."

"He'd need Yukhei's body for that," Taeyong frowns, face pinched, "You don't think-"

"I do," Yuta interrupts, "I think that's exactly what he's going to do."

Yuta turns to look at Ten, then back to Taeyong. Both of them ponder for a moment, each of them looking more uneasy as time passes.

"You think he's going to bring the body here?" Ten asks quietly, an anxious lilt to his voice.

Yuta twists to look at him and nods, "And I think Donghyuck is going to help."

"Why would Sicheng want to help Yukhei? He barely knows the guy," Taeyong questions, snuggling impossibly closer to Yuta's side.

Ten and Taeyong make eye contact, both of them seemingly having a moment of realisation.

Yuta looks at them both in confusion, his eyebrows furrowed.

"What?" he questions, "What is it?"

Taeyong looks at him with his wide eyes, "Because of you."

"You care about Yukhei," Ten supplies, squeezing his arm, "And Sicheng cares about  _ you. _ "

The feeling in Yuta's chest is back, hard and suffocating.

 

///

 

It takes a long hour of reassuring affection from his friends to calm him down, though it did not completely work. Yuta hadn't been a middle spoon for a long while. After Taeyong and Ten had gotten together with Kun, the middle spoon spot had solely been reserved for him. It felt nice to be in the middle of their cuddle sessions again.

The two boys at his sides had fallen asleep, and Yuta himself was on the verge of dozing off. The sound of water splashing was what startled Yuta into keeping his eyes open.

Yuta blinks blearily as the door to the ensuite bathroom opens. Kun, very much naked apart from the towel around his waist standing in the doorway. A small smile lights up the Head Witch's face at the sight of his two lovers curled up on their bed.

Yuta suddenly feels like an intruder.

"Yuta," Kun says, startling Yuta to sit up in his spot, "Hello."

"Hi," Yuta says, wincing as Ten and Taeyong's arms slide off of him.

"Are you alright?"

He nods sheepishly, running a hand through his already dishevelled hair.

He really wishes Kun would put some clothes on.

"You sure?" Kun asks, flicking his wet hair out of his face, "You look a little distraught."

Yuta hadn't realised he was so easy to read.

"We need to talk," Taeyong says from below him, voice croaky from sleep, "Put some clothes on, please."

Kun complies with his lover's request. Yuta has to bury his face into a pillow to keep himself from watching the Head Witch get changed. He's surprised Kun would change in his presence so willingly.

Ten beside him whines out numerous complaints, endlessly begging Kun to keep his shirt off. Kun shuts him up with a kiss once he's done pulling a shirt over his head. Taeyong gets a kiss too, which he smiles into. Then Ten begins to whine again, only shutting up once Kun indulges him in another kiss.

Yuta envies them.

Kun takes a seat on the corner of the bed, hands clasped in his lap, waiting for them to start talking.

"We think Sicheng's going to try to bring Yukhei back from the dead," Taeyong explains, sitting himself upright.

The soft adoring look on Kun's face morphs into one of concern and anger.

" _ What? _ "

Yuta opens his mouth to explain but Kun cuts him off before he can even begin.

"Where is he now?"

"He left," Yuta replies quietly, "I tried to convince him to stay but he still..."

_ Left me _ , is what he wants to say.

Kun rubs his temples, "How long ago was this?"

"About an hour or two ago," Ten supplies.

Kun looks furious, stare harsh as he looks at Yuta, "He's been gone for two hours and you didn't tell me?" he snaps.

"Kun," Taeyong scolds.

There's a knock at the bedroom door, halting the conversation. When Kun calls for them to come in, Hendery pokes his head through the door.

"The vampires are here," he says, shaking the hair out of his eyes.

Yuta's thrown by the use of the plural, "How many of them?"

Hendery shrugs, "All of them, I think."

 

///

 

The Head Witch greets the vampires at the front of the house. Taeyong and Ten stand behind him, flanking his sides like guards. Hendery hangs back in front of the hallway entrance, looking intimidated by the six vampires visiting their home.

Taeil and Doyoung stand side by side, which isn’t unusual, but the hand Doyoung has hovering over the small of Taeil’s back peaks Yuta’s interest. Jaemin is hanging off of Jisung like usual, looking really excited to be there whilst his awkward boyfriend gawks at everything and everyone.

Donghyuck has made an appearance as well. He's standing by the kitchen counter, his eyes solely focused on Mark and Renjun, who are shamelessly staring back at him. What catches Yuta’s eye the most is the black paint that has dried itself on Donghyuck’s palms. The very same grainy black paint infused with many disturbing ingredients that they use to create pentagrams. 

So that’s what Donghyuck has been doing.

Yuta’s set on dragging Donghyuck from the living area to interrogate him somewhere that isn’t populated by various supernatural creatures but Taeil begins speaking before Yuta can move an inch.

“He’s here?”

The Head Witch nods, “Yes, he is. Him and his whole pack. All of them are in good health.”

Like a set of dominoes, one by one a look of relief floods the face of each vampire. Taeil closes his eyes and sighs, the tension in his shoulders washing away. He has his lips pressed together to hold back the grin that wants to adorn his face. Doyoung beside him has to smile into the palm of his hand to hold back his own relief and happiness.

“Can we- Are we able to see him?”

“I believe he’s asleep right now,” Kun tells the two eldest vampires, “But I doubt he’d be bothered if you two woke him up. He’s been asking for you.”

A simple hand doesn’t hide the massive smile that overtakes Doyoung’s face this time.

“Hendery will show you where they are.”

At this, Hendery stands up straight, looking terrified but nods nonetheless. Neither Ten nor Yuta can hold back their snicker.

Collectively, all of the vampires move to follow Hendery down the hallway except for Taeil.

Donghyuck goes to follow, most likely anticipating getting to talk to Renjun and Mark, but one glare from Yuta has Donghyuck frozen in his place, pouting like a petulant child.

“Taeil?” Doyoung questions, waiting for him in the hallway entrance.

“Go on,” Taeil says with a slight nod, “I’ll be there in a moment.”

Doyoung smiles at him sweetly before disappearing down the hall with the rest.

“Is there something else, Taeil?” Kun asks the vampire curiously, his right hand playing with Ten’s fingers whilst his left is intertwined with Taeyong’s.

Taeil smiles kindly and shakes his head, “I was hoping to talk to Yuta actually.”

Kun hums, “I see,” he looks at Yuta and then back to the vampire, “If you’ll excuse me then.”

And with that the Head Witch lets his lovers drag him away.

Donghyuck is still standing in the kitchen, bouncing on his toes like an impatient child waiting for his time in the naughty corner to be up.

Yuta breathes out of his nose in frustration, “Go,” he says, “We’ll talk later.”

Donghyuck scurries off with a little smirk on his face that screams ‘ _ I’ve won!’ _ . Before he can disappear down the hall like the rest, Yuta quickly adds—

“Don’t forget to wash the paint off of your hands.”

And Donghyuck’s face pales, hesitating in the doorway for a moment. His throat bobs as he swallows nervously, he nods at Yuta before fleeing down the hall.

_ The pentagram. _

That's all Yuta can think about right now.

Sicheng had Donghyuck create a pentagram. That's how he was going to get the body out of the morgue. He supposes it's a lot less risky to teleport the body through a spell than to carry a dead body out of the morgue all on his own. But pentagrams take time and precision to make, and even more time to scrub off of the floor to hide any trace of witchcraft.

Either way, what Sicheng was doing is risky.

Yeah, he might be helping Yukhei, but in the long run he could put the entirety of the coven at risk. There are already hunters lurking around in search of the werewolves. The last thing they need is hunters after them too.

God, all Yuta wants is for Sicheng to come  _ home. _

"Yuta?"

Yuta blinks, snapping himself out of his daze.

"Hm?" he hums as he tears his eyes away from the blank spot on the wall he had been staring at for God knows how long.

Taeil rests a comforting hand on Yuta's arm, smiling at him gently, "Are you alright?"

Yuta wishes people would stop asking him that.

"Yes," he says, smiling tightly at his friend, "I'm perfectly fine. How are you?"

The gentle smile on Taeil's face brightens significantly at the question.

Yuta brings them over to the couch and both of them sit down. Taeil grabs a hold of both of Yuta's hands and squeezes them, his eyes fizzing with excitement.

"I can't thank you enough for finding Jungwoo and helping him and his pack," Taeil starts, "It means the world to me and Doyoung."

The tightly wound smile on Yuta's face eases out into one of genuine happiness.

"Doyoung and I, we-" Taeil draws back for a moment, hesitating his next words, "We got closer whilst Jungwoo was away. We're not sure how we're going to approach that."

Yuta's confused to say the least.

"Closer?"

"Previously, me and Doyoung weren't romantically involved."

Yuta is even more confused now.

Taeil flusters at the look on Yuta's face, "I'm sorry. This is making you uncomfortable, isn't it?"

Shaking his head, Yuta squeezes Taeil's palms reassuringly, "No, no. I'm just surprised. Please, tell me."

Taeil bites down on his bottom lip bashfully. If he had a beating heart, he'd surely have blushed cheeks.

"Our relationship has always been strictly, ah,  _ sexual _ , prior to Jungwoo's disappearance," Taeil explains sheepishly, "The only reason we had ever slept together in the first place was at Jungwoo's request."

Yuta hadn't been aware of this. Before he ever found out about Jungwoo he had already assumed Taeil and Doyoung had a romantic relationship that they had kept private. He must have had the wrong idea all along. Jungwoo was both Taeil and Doyoung's boyfriend, but Taeil and Doyoung hadn’t been together, unlike Kun, Ten and Taeyong’s relationship in which all three of them were romantically involved.

Polyamory fascinated Yuta but, God, could it be a little confusing.

He wonders if Renjun and Mark are together or not. Both of them had been working together to court Donghyuck for a while now. He wonders if the connotations around their relationship would be any different or very much the same.

"When Jungwoo disappeared, I found myself seeking him out and he would do the same. We were just looking out for each other at the beginning. Comforting one-another. Eventually comforting words and the slight touch of hands turned into falling asleep at each other's side, kissing each other good morning... and we just-"

"You fell for each other."

Taeil's eyes are dark and he nods. He looks a bit scared admitting it all aloud.

"We've never talked about it. With Jungwoo, I mean. What it would it mean if Doyoung and I were to get involved  _ romantically _ ," Taeil confesses, breathing in deeply, "I know Jungwoo would never be upset about this. Something tells me the fact that he wanted me and Doyoung to both to be with him during, ah,  _ sex _ , means that he would like to see us together but I can't help but feel like we've gone behind his back a little."

Yuta's speechless. He doesn't quite know what to say.

"I'm sorry. I don't need any advice or anything. I know we just need to talk to Jungwoo about what's happened. I just needed to get that off my chest," Taeil says, looking a little ashamed over everything he had just unloaded onto Yuta, "This probably isn't what you were expecting when you asked how I was."

Chuckling, Yuta shakes his head, "No. Not really."

Taeil laughs, raking his fingers through his hair, and Yuta laughs with him.

Yuta's glad that Taeil confided in him. He's glad Taeil feels comfortable enough to talk to him about things like this. It makes Yuta's heart swell fondly at the friendship they have.

"Come on," Yuta tells him, getting to his feet whilst dragging Taeil with him, "Let's go find Jungwoo-"

Yuta pauses, his hair standing on end at the sound of wood creaking. His head turns so fast when he hears the doorknob turn. His stomach swirls nervously and his throat tightens, he moves Taeil behind him just in case.

It's Sicheng.

His palms are stained with black paint, and he's managed to smudge it on his forehead and chin as well. The bag he was holding clutters to the floor with a loud  _ thump!  _ that makes Yuta flinch. His hair is all messy like he ran his hands through it millions of times, and his black shirt was clinging to his torso as if it were wet.

Sicheng finally looks up, and they lock eyes. Yuta's head rings painfully.

" _ Yuta, _ " Sicheng breathes, pushing the door behind him close with his palm.

Taeil peaks his head around Yuta's body, staring at the witch in suspicion.

Sicheng's jaw clenches when he lays eyes on the vampire, "Taeil."

Unlike usual, Taeil doesn't respond to the greeting. Instead he moves past Yuta and closer to the witch, sniffing at the air loudly and unabashedly.

"You're bleeding," Taeil states, stopping a couple of steps away from him.

Sicheng clutches the wet patch on his shirt, grimacing, "It's fine."

Taeil shakes his head, glancing at Yuta, "He's losing a lot of blood."

The familiar takes a deep breath before walking forward and taking Sicheng into his hold. Sicheng struggles, thrashing slightly in his grasp but he manages to get his witch down and onto the floor. Sicheng swears loudly, banging his head against the back of the door, clutching his torso.

"It's really not that bad," Sicheng tries to convince him, flinching away from his touch, "I'm okay."

There are little beads of sweat collecting at Sicheng's temples and his breathing was getting heavier. The anxious thrumming in Yuta's head gets louder.

He was not okay.

Yuta takes his bottom lip between his teeth as he looks at his witch. He didn't know if he was angry or sad or both, all he knew was that Sicheng was in a lot of pain and losing blood.

"Can you lift your arms up?" Yuta asks him quietly, tucking strands of Sicheng's hair behind his ear, "C'mon we gotta get your shirt off."

Sicheng whines like a baby but does as he's told. Taeil kneels down on the other side of Sicheng, helping to peel the soaked shirt off of him.

There are three small bullet wounds. Small. Circular. Similar to the size of a BB gun. Yuta's seen guns that use bullets like these. It's a type of hunter's weapon. Typically the tiny sphere shaped bullets barely got too deep into the skin, but they seeped out a poison deadly for all creatures.

And Sicheng had three of them lodged inside of him.

"His blood smells wrong," Taeil looks up at Yuta worriedly, "Tainted."

Yuta barely holds back his whimper.

"It's the poison," Yuta replies, eyes shaking as he stares down at Sicheng.

Sicheng groans, eyes heavy. Yuta cups a hand around the back of his neck and Sicheng moves so he can nuzzle into his palm.

"M fine," Sicheng says, despite the tears pooling in the corners of his eyes.

Even when he's in a lot of pain, he's still trying to lie to him.

Yuta's prepared to scold him. Yell at him.  _ Anything _ . But then Sicheng's eyes slip closed completely and the only thing that comes out of his throat is an ugly sob.

Taeil stands, rushing over to the hallway and yelling out for help.

" _ Kun! _ " Yuta yells, clutching onto Sicheng’s limp body, " _ Kun!" _

If Sicheng died in his arms right now, he was going to bring him right back to life and kill him all over again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am so sorry for the long wait :( i had writers block and then i went away for a week and then i came back and i had writers block AGAIN but i'm back now and hopefully it wont take me almost another month to update again :(
> 
> you can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/ncteabag) and [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/ncteabag)


	10. just want you.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Hold on,” Yuta says, getting to his feet, “I’ll go get my blanket-”
> 
> “No blanket. No shifting,” the witch says quietly, “I just want you.”

Kun won’t let him see Sicheng.

After coming to his and Taeil’s calls, he has Johnny pick Sicheng’s limp body off of the floor and whisks them both away to his bedroom.

Yuta finds himself sitting on the floor of the library, every other one of the houses’ inhabitants murmuring amongst themselves. Everyone seems to be able to sense the anger and anxiety bubbling beneath Yuta’s skin. Taeil’s the only one who even dares to come anywhere near him, everyone else is seemingly too afraid to provoke him.

He’s kind of grateful that they choose to stay away. He’s not sure if he’d laugh or scream or _cry_ if they tried to talk to him. His mind is in chaos, and he’s not sure which emotion belongs to which of his thoughts.

Is he angry at Sicheng? Or is he angry at the people who did this to him?

Is he angry at himself?

It’s only after a few minutes that Johnny returns. His hands are clean but his shirt is stained with blood. _Sicheng’s_ blood. He doesn’t say anything though. The alpha werewolf just pulls the shirt over his head and discards it on the floor, pulling Jaehyun into his chest. Jaehyun asks him something quietly, but Johnny just shakes his head before pressing his nose into the back of his lover’s neck.

Taeil is leaning against a bookshelf not too far in front of Yuta, flocked by his two boyfriends. Neither of them are too phased by any of the blood stuck to his clothes, the both of them pressing into his sides. Jungwoo has both of his hands clasped tightly around one of Taeil’s, holding it like it’s one of his most prized possessions. Doyoung has his hand running through Taeil’s hair, his gaze flickering back and forth from Taeil and Jungwoo every once in a while.

Taeil’s watching Yuta. Closely. Carefully. As if he’s afraid Yuta’s calm outer-shell will crack and all of his emotions will come seeping out at any moment.

And Yuta just sits there.

With his back against the wall, palms stained red with his witch’s blood, right next to the doorway so he can be the first one out of the room if Kun needs him. If _Sicheng_ needs him.

“Stop it,” someone scolds, “there’s barely any nail polish left to pick at. At this rate, you’ll pick at your skin and bleed.”

He barely registers the voice, let alone the instructions. Everything sounds so far away compared to the loud _pounding_ thoughts in his head.

“ _Yuta_ ,” Taeyong squats in front of him, cupping the both of his hands with his own, “ _stop_.”

Yuta startles, looking away from the fire crackling in the fireplace. Taeyong stares at him, worry evident in his eyes. He tugs his hands from Taeyong’s grasp, tucking them into his lap. He directs his eyes downwards, staring at the red and irritated skin.

Majority of the nail polish on his fingers had been picked off, flakes of it still clinging to his fingertips. The skin around his cuticles stung from where he had been scratching at it.

He stares down at the specks of purple nail varnish still clinging to his fingers and the bright red scratches on his knuckles for a moment, trying to even out his breathing.

When he looks back up, Taeyong’s still directly in front of him, watching him carefully. Yuta pays him no mind, leaning away from him so that he could get a better view of the room.

Xiaojun and Yukhei had fallen asleep by the fire. Taeil, Jungwoo and Doyoung were still resting against the bookshelf. Johnny was still holding onto Jaehyun from behind, the both of them rocking back and forth, content with each others touch. Jaemin was hanging over the back of Jisung’s shoulders, both of them quietly flipping through a book about serpent anatomy, only really looking at the pictures. Ten’s standing above him and Taeyong, looking down on them.

Jeno was still watching over Chenle in their bedroom.

Yuta finally finds the people he’s looking for. Mark and Renjun, standing at the back of the room with Hendery and Yangyang, the four of them conversing softly.

Where was Donghyuck?

How long had it been since Donghyuck had been in the room? Was he in the library with everyone else when Yuta had entered? Had he left sometime in between then and now, without Yuta even realising?

Renjun catches him staring, and just stares right back with a furrow in between his brows. With a gentle touch to his hip from Mark, he resumes focus on the conversation that’s being had in front of him.

Taeyong touches his shoulder gently, trying to catch his eye.

“Where’s Donghyuck?” Yuta asks quietly after a long moment of silence.

“I,” Taeyong pauses, glancing behind him, “have no idea.”

“He had _the_ paint on his hands.” he tells him, finally looking at him in the face.

Ten above them, shifts on his feet nervously. And Taeyong’s hand on his shoulder tightens significantly. Both of them know exactly what he means by ‘ _the_ paint’.

“You’re sure?” Ten asks.

“Positive.”

Taeyong looks uneasy at the information, “That’s one way to transport a dead body. You think he went to retrieve it while we were all distracted?”

The three of them share a mutual look of fear.

“You don’t think…” Taeyong starts.

Ten’s fearful expression shifts into one of frustration, “He’s trying to bring Yukhei back by himself? Yes, yes I do.”

Taeyong sighs, pursing his lips in annoyance, “That’s such a Donghyuck thing to do.”

Sighing, Ten stretches a hand out in front of him, looking down at Yuta with his eyebrows raised. Yuta gives him a tiny smile, letting his friend pull him to his feet. Taeyong bounces upright, tangling arms with Ten and clasping Yuta’s fingers.

He guesses the three of them are going on a Donghyuck hunt.

He lets himself be dragged from the library, ignoring the tingling sensation crawling over his back as numerous pairs of eyes watch him as he leaves. There’s a tug in his heart when he gets pulled down the hall and away from the bedroom residing at the very end of it, the room where his witch lays sick and close to dying.

But he doesn’t turn to look.

Yuta doesn’t think Taeyong or Ten would let him go near there if he tried.

The door to the kids’ bedroom is empty, and Yuta already knows for sure that the only people who are residing in it are Jeno and Chenle. If Donghyuck was in there, Ten would know. Familiars had almost a six sense when it came to their witches, even if their bond wasn’t that of a strong one.

They were headed for the study, a big wide room attached to the side of the kitchen. It was mainly used for the kids to practise their spells and potions. There are two desks in there, both of which are riddled with viles, pots and even spare ingredients that didn’t end up being used or needed. Splotches of soot and holes in the walls from explosions were the prime decoration in the room.

Other than that it was pretty empty, with enough space to fit a large enough pentagram to summon a dead body.

There’s a big brass lock on the door, that Kun uses to make sure none of the kids can get inside unsupervised. All three of the familiars are quite aware that you need more than a simple unenchanted lock to keep Donghyuck out of something.

Ten’s looking through his pockets, in search of something to pick the lock quick and easy without having to go scouring in any draws or bothering Kun for the key.

Yuta chews on the inside of his cheek, risking a glance behind him to look at the front door. It’s hard for him to pull his eyes away from Sicheng’s dark, drying blood.

He barely registers Ten’s fingers in his hair, pulling a bobby-pin loose.

In surprise, he turns back just in time to catch the _click!_ of the lock as it opens. Yuta avoids Taeyong’s eye as he moves forward to enter the room behind Ten.

“Oh,” Donghyuck says, looking up at the three of them with his eyes and mouth open wide, “you found me.”

He’s sitting cross-legged inside the pentagram, beside a long black body bag which is zipped all the way to the top.

“I was going to start without Sicheng,” he tells them looking back down, “but necromancy makes me nervous.”

Ten scowls, glaring down at the young witch, “You love dangerous magic.”

Donghyuck makes a face at him, “Yeah, but I hate decaying dead bodies more, _so_.”

Yuta’s stomach twists uncomfortably at the idea of peeling away the body bag to find a Yukhei that isn’t quite whole. Finding a Yukhei that isn’t smiling.

What is in the body bag is just an empty shell. A body uninhabited by a soul. Lifeless and cold. It’s not the Yukhei that Yuta has met and he’s not quite sure he ever wants to.

“It’s only been a few days,” Ten replies, “his skin can’t be melting off of his bones just yet.”

The urge to throw up gets stronger.

Donghyuck shakes his fringe out of his eyes, fists curled in his lap, “You’ve forgotten that he was burned to death. There’s nothing but charred flesh and bones in there. What’s in there is supposed to be Yukhei but-” he cuts himself off, mouth twisted uncomfortably.

Yuta breathes in deeply through his nose, too afraid that if he opens his mouth he’ll straight up hurl. Taeyong is anxiously chewing on his nails beside him, eyes cast down at the body bag like he’s afraid it’ll start to move.

Quietly, Ten squats, placing a hand on his witch’s shoulder, in an attempt to ease his emotions.

“I have to get the body out to do the ritual but I can’t,” Donghyuck admits quietly, leaning into Ten’s touch, “I just can’t do it. I can’t look at it- at him.”

“C’mon,” Ten says, putting aside the scolding tone, “let’s go get the paint cleaned off of your hands, and then we’ll go wait in the library until Kun’s done. We’ll find out where to go from there, okay?”

Donghyuck’s jaw tightens for a moment. He glares at the floor, weighing his options in his mind before nodding silently. Ten helps him to his feet, guiding him slowly with a hand on his shoulder out of the room.

Yuta does not hesitate to scurry after them, Taeyong behind him, leaving the body in the bag long behind.

“Is Sicheng going to be okay?” he hears Donghyuck ask.

There’s a long pause before Ten finally answers.

“I don’t know.”

 

///

 

After getting Donghyuck settled back in the library with the others, Yuta retreats back to his bedroom. Being in that room with eighteen other people began to make him claustrophobic. The fear and stress that had built up made his head throb horribly.

All Yuta wanted to do, was curl up into a ball and take a long catnap.

So he does.

He doesn’t care to undress himself. He shifts and he crawls his way up the bed, plopping down on the pillows. Yuta pays no attention to his green blanket that's a mere few centimetres away from him. He’s surrounded himself in Sicheng’s scent, rubbing his head along the pillows and duvet in an attempt to feel calm and safe.

It works to a degree.

Nothing quite calms his anxious beating heart. Knowing that Sicheng’s only a few doors down, fighting for his life, keeps Yuta in a weird anxious state of sleep. What feels like every few minutes, he’s blinking himself awake in fear that he may miss something.

It alerts him when one of the times he wakes up, Kun’s in front of him, looking completely wiped out and borderline exhausted.

“He’s awake,” he says with a tired and relieved smile on his face, “and he’s going to be okay.”

 

///

 

He’s not quite sure what he’s expecting when he sees Sicheng. Maybe he was assuming he would look fragile, sickly and unwell. Tired and worn out, using his last remaining bits of energy to stay awake.

However, Sicheng looks fine. Almost untouched.

Sometimes Yuta forgets how powerful and incredible magic can be.

If it weren’t for the remnants of blood-stained around the house, Yuta would never have guessed anything had happened to Sicheng in the first place.

Yuta, back in human form, settles himself on one of Kun’s comfy chairs, curling in on himself while he watches Sicheng bicker with Kun back and forth. They’re arguing about Sicheng being on bed rest, but all of it goes over Yuta’s head. Sicheng is his focus, and everything else is just a blur around him.

He can’t figure out what he’s going to say once they’re alone.

Does he want to yell? Does he want to cry? Does he want to speak to Sicheng at all?

The most prominent urge Yuta has is to curl up into Sicheng’s side and just lay there with him for as long as possible.

“I’m going to go and sort out some form of dinner for the numerous supernatural creatures wandering around our house.”

Yuta looks up and meets Kun’s gaze that is solely focused on him. Swallowing the dry lump in his throat, he nods slowly in acknowledgement. Kun gives him a tight and small smile in return, excusing himself one last time before slipping out of the room.

He can feel Sicheng staring at the side of his face like he’s only just realised Yuta was in the room with them this entire time.

It’s so quiet after that. The only thing Yuta can hear is his own uneven breathing.

He isn’t quite sure if he’s prepared to look Sicheng in the eye. Not after the argument, they had gotten in earlier. Not after the kiss. Not after Sicheng had _left_.

He contemplates leaving. Walking right back out the door. He had seen that Sicheng was alright. He knew that the witch wasn’t going to be dying anytime soon. So, why shouldn’t he just leave? Walk out? Yuta has the urge to punish him for all the anxiety Sicheng had caused him.

But he can’t. He _won’t_. Because the part of Yuta that loves and cares for his witch is stronger than any grudge he could ever hold against him. The worry wins over the anger.

So he stays.

And he sits. Staring at the wall, pretending Sicheng’s gaze doesn’t make his skin tingle. Yuta still can’t find words and the silence is deafening.

“Your nail polish,” Yuta almost jumps out of his skin at the sound of Sicheng’s voice, “you picked it off.”

Despite his appearance, Sicheng sounds tired.

“You should drink something,” he says, gesturing at the glass of water beside the bed with a nudge of his chin, “your throat sounds dry.”

The corners of Sicheng’s lips quirk downwards at the evasion of his question.

“Are you okay?”

Something angry rears inside Yuta.

“ _Am I okay?_ ” he spits, facial expression hard, “You got _attacked_ , Sicheng. You were bleeding out on the _floor_ . You were poisoned you- _You_ -” he falters at the guilty expression that crosses Sicheng’s face.

Yuta folds back into himself, looking away and biting his tongue. He takes a deep breath.

He breathes out, “I’m okay,” he says, eyes darting to look back at Sicheng but averting the moment he makes eye contact, “still mad you left and mad that you did something stupid but I’m okay.”

Sicheng chews his lip, “Did it get here?”

“The body? Yeah.”

“Oh. That’s good.” he pauses, “Yuta?”

“Hm?”

Silence and then,

“I’m sorry if I upset you.”

The lump in Yuta’s throat is back.

A lot of things that Sicheng had done earlier that day had upset him, so what exactly was he referring to. The fight? Him almost getting killed?

The _kiss_?

He looks Sicheng back in the eye for a moment. The witch’s eyes were trying to convey an emotion that Yuta couldn’t read.

“Anyway,” Sicheng clears his throat, sitting up straight with a wince, “It’s getting late.”

“Oh.”

Did he want Yuta to leave?

Sicheng scoots over in the bed, flipping back the duvet and looking up at Yuta expectantly and albeit shyly.

 _Oh_.

“Hold on,” Yuta says, getting to his feet, “I’ll go get my blanket-”

“No!” Sicheng cuts in quickly, “It’s fine.”

Yuta stops abruptly, already halfway to the door.

“No blanket. No shifting,” the witch says quietly, “I just want you.”

It feels like his heart had stopped dead in his chest.

He hesitates for a long moment before he shuffles on over to the bed and crawls under the covers. Sicheng tucks him in a little bit, leaning over Yuta’s form to make sure the duvet covers most of his upper body. His close proximity makes Yuta tense.

Sicheng winces as he leans back. Yuta frowns.

“You shouldn’t try to move so much.” he scolds softly, pulling the covers up to his chin.

The witch huffs, “I’m fine.” he says, leaning back in to invade Yuta’s personal space.

Sicheng tucks his head into the side of Yuta’s neck, breathing in deeply like he’s trying to commit Yuta’s scent to memory. Yuta freezes, hands frozen by his sides, still not remotely used to Sicheng’s closeness. 

He flinches at Sicheng’s hand that comes to rest on his hip. The sensation of Sicheng’s thumb caressing his skin sends shivers up his spine and butterflies to his stomach. Slowly, Sicheng pulls him closer, until they’re chest to chest.

Yuta can feel the others breathing. It surprises him how even it is compared to the erratic flustered breathing coming from himself.

Eventually, he becomes comfortable enough to wrap his arms around Sicheng and he indulges his own urges to cuddle closer.

He’s not sure if he imagines Sicheng smiling against the side of his neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im sorry for this update taking so long, and im sorry if you find it a bit lackluster. i hit somewhat of a roadblock with the fic but i think im back in business? bare with me lol. huge shoutout to karinna for helping beta this chapter for me :(<3
> 
> you can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/henderybff) and [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/ncteabag)


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